Reps grill JAMB registrar over recruitment of 300 staff without advert placements

The House of Representatives ad-hoc Committee probing the alleged job racketeering by Ministries, Departments and Agencies on Monday questioned the Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculations Board (JAMB), Ishaq Oloyede, over the recruitment of 300 staff in the agency without advert placements.

The chairman of the committee, Yusuf Gagdi, had in his presentation decried the board’s refusal to make public the job opportunities when they were available for Nigerians to apply.

Gagdi stressed that JAMB violated the federal character principle with the decision to recruit 300 staff through waiver.

He, therefore, asked Oloyede to submit the list of all persons employed by the board on a state-by-state basis from 2015 till date within 30 days.

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However, the JAMB chief defended the board’s decision to fill the available vacancies without advertising the jobs.

He insisted that JAMB has not violated the federal character principle in its recruitment exercise since 2015.

Oloyede said: “We used the waiver because we believe the exigency of the time and the nature of our work deserved it. If we were to advertise for the 300, we wouldn’t have been able to meet up with what we needed them for.

“I believe very strongly that it was very necessary at that time that we recruited and I assure you that we did not surcharge those who were qualified.”

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