The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has said that the agency only correctly nullified a questionable and hurriedly arranged recruitment, following reports that the agency allegedly sacked 48 of its workers.
The head of the agency’s Media and Public Relations Unit, Mr Manzo Ezekiel, disclosed this in a statement on Sunday in Abuja.
Manzo said that it was important to set the record straight, following reports in a national daily on Feb. 10, and Feb. 11, that the agency sacked 48 of its workers one year after recruitment.
“Contrary to the allegations in these publications, the agency did not sack any staff.
“Rather, the management of the agency only correctly nullified a questionable and hurriedly arranged recruitment that was marred by irregularities and lack of adherence to established procedures for recruitment into the Public Service.
“Those claimed to have been sacked were candidates of that spurious exercise,” he said.
He further said that although approval was obtained from the NEMA Governing Council for recruitment in 2018, there were other complementary and critical procedures that were not followed.
He added that non compliance with the required procedures effectively invalidated the exercise.
“These include obtaining approval from the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation with regard to established vacancies and manpower budget.
“The supervising ministry of NEMA, the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, was also completely excluded from the recruitment.
“The standard protocol dictates that the Ministry, which was created and assigned a supervisory role over the Agency in 2019, must be briefed and involved in such exercises.
On the allegation that salaries of the said candidates were unpaid for one year, he added that NEMA does not pay salaries of Public Servants.
“For the avoidance of doubt, the confirmation of recruitment and payment of the salaries of a Public Servant on a continuous monthly basis follows established standards.
“To wit, due recruitment process in accordance with Public Service Rules.
“If successful, the candidate’s data is captured by the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation.
“Next and on formal resumption of duties, the candidate’s payment transfer details are captured by IPPIS for regular payment of salaries and allowances,” he further stated.
Ezekiel added that the roles of the Federal Character Commission (FCC), as stated in the publications, were intended to give credibility to the exercise.
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He, however, noted that the participation of the FCC alone would not vitiate the responsibilities of the Supervising Ministry or the statutory roles of the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation.
“Both of which were strangely excluded from participating in the recruitment exercise.
“The publications also claimed credit for involvement of the Public Service Institute of Nigeria (PSIN) in the recruitment exercise.
“However, the involvement of the Institute is not a necessary condition in the recruitment process as enshrined in the Public Service Rules (PSR).
“PSIN was only engaged by NEMA as a Consultant for the purpose of conducting examination for prospecting candidates.
“It is unfortunate that the affected candidates were issued Appointment Letters without exhausting the conditions enshrined in the Public Service Rules (PSR) and the Guidelines for Appointment.
“However, Public Service Rules are established to protect the interest of the Government as well as the employees.
“Therefore, they cannot be discountenanced.
“In view of the foregoing, the public is advised to disregard the misleading publications that were orchestrated by people that attempted to circumvent Public Service Rules for their own gains,” he said.