The Executive Chairman of the Fiscal Responsibility Commission (FRC), Barr. Victor Muruako, disclosed on Tuesday that the agency has been unable to recruit 173 new staff members since 2022 due to financial constraints.
Muruako made this revelation during his appearance before the House of Representatives ad hoc committee investigating job racketeering and abuse of the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS) by government ministries, departments, and agencies.
According to Muruako, the commission was granted approval for the recruitment of 173 staff in 2022. However, due to the lack of funds, the recruitment process has not been executed.
Addressing the issue of imbalanced representation in the staff nominal roll, the executive chairman assured that corrective measures would be taken during the forthcoming recruitment.
He noted that the previous recruitments in 2010 and 2012 were conducted before his tenure as acting chairman. Although he was a director at the time, he was not responsible for those recruitments.
During the hearing, Hon. Yusuf Adamu Gagdi, the chairman of the ad hoc committee, queried the absence of federal character in the FRC’s staff composition.
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He said “In the appendix 5- summary page, I see that Imo state has the highest with 14 staff, Benue is second with eight while Bauchi, Borno, Kwara, Lagos, Osun has zero. In fact, apart from Imo and Benue, no state has more than four staff.
” Is it because you are from Imo state and decided to corner all the jobs to your state? We want to either these wrongs and ensure that the principle of federal character is strictly complied with by MDAs”
In response, Muruako explained that he since his tenure, he had only brought in two assistants who were political appointees, not statutory staff, adding that he was not responsible for the previous recruitments.
“These recruitments were done in 2010 and 2012 and since I came, we have not done any recruitment because we do not have the resources to do so.
“But I want to assure this Honourable committee that we shall address the imbalance when the impending recruitment is carried out”.
Responding, Hon. Gagdi promised that the committee would make a case for the Fiscal Responsibility Commission before the Budget Office to ensure that adequate funds are allocated to the agency to carry out its functions.
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In a related development, the ad hoc committee also raised concerns about the recruitment and staff composition at the Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency.
The committee pointed out disparities in the staff distribution from specific states and local government areas, particularly regarding the director general’s place of origin.
Hon. Gagdi directed the director general to provide a comprehensive list of staff categorized by states among other details.