By Michael Agbaji
The Chairman Senate Committee on Federal Character Sen.Allwell Onyesoh says,the under his watch will ensured the principal of Federal Character are obeyed.
Sen. Onyesoh disclosed these on Tuesday during the meeting between by Senate Committee on Federal Character and Affairs and executive chairperson of FCC, Dr. Muheeba Farida Dankaka with some commissioner’s of the Commission.
According to him,Senate are considering stiffer penalties to stem job racketeering, disregard for federal character principles in job employment and other irregularities the violate the constitution of Nigeria.
Senator Onyesoh said Nigeria at this time Nigeria is sitting on a keg of gun powder and people react to issues based on emotion and Nigerians have gotten to a point where they no longer look at issues deeply, but he have the social media way; you just cheat something, you move it on, copy and send to the next person. Nobody tries to clarify, no investigation any more”.
It is something that is very dangerous and it is easy to ignite a place. A simple statement like, oh this thing is out we are not getting it. There is job there, they are employing secretly, is enough to cause problem.
And the purview of FCC covers that. We felt it is proper to call them and we sit down, dot the ‘I’ and cross the ‘t’, make every of their activities more transparent, more glaringly clear for people to see. We want to open up the space.
He said the essence of the federal character situation is to create unity, fairness and equity, adding that “you can’t have that if someone is feeling rejected, feeling not carried along.
“You must put some sanctions if you want things to work. We are considering stiffer penalties; there must be consequence for everything” adding that “this is one of the few committees that derives it’s power from the constitution”.
Earlier, the executive chairperson of FCC, Dr. Muheeba Farida Dankaka, denied that there is job sales under her watch, adding that it happened in the past when “the place was like a market place”.
She urged the committee to help the commission to be able to correct the past wrongs and help them with their budget as the 2024 capital approved for them by the National Assembly was reduced to zero by Budget and Planning Office.
