The Nigerian Prisons Service, under the leadership of the Controller-General Ahmed Ja’afaru and Minister of the Interior Abdulrahman Dambazau, has hired around 538 recruits without following established laws for public recruitment exercises.
This latest finding follows similar illegal employment schemes by the Central Bank of Nigeria Governor Godwin Emefiele and the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) Executive Chairman Tunde Fowler. It will be recalled that Mr. Emefiele oversaw a monumental recruitment fraud where he illegally hired the children and relatives of powerfully connected Nigerians throughout the Federal Government.
It was also revealed that the majority of these illegal hires are from northern states, according to these same sources. A casual tally of all 538 names found that around 370 were from 14 northern states, or about 68% of total illegal hires.
This calculation was based on the state of origin of the illegal hire and not whether any one person belongs to a specific ethnic group.
These same sources also explained that a massive training exercise, with the number of NPS staff listed on these training sheets, only takes place when there is an influx of new hires.
Speaking on the matter Mr. Enobore ,Spokesman to Nigeria Prisons Service confirmed that there is a legal process to hire employees at the NPS. He explained that the NPS “would need to make their case before the Federal Government, request to declare new vacancies, and have that request approved.”
Mr. Enobore also confirmed that the Federal Character Commission would need to be involved to ensure no single ethnic group or State receives preferential hires. He would not comment on the list having many more new hires from northern States other than to say that letters of appointment are needed to confirm.
News of this illegal employment scheme follows a jailbreak of several prisoners from Kuje Prison in Abuja, allegations that the escapees had assistance from NPS staff, and removed a prison officer Musa Tanko under suspicion that he may have been involved.
