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The House of Representatives, on Wednesday, resolved to investigate the alleged lopsided recruitments by the Transmission Company of Nigeria, particularly the exclusion of Bayelsa State.
Consequently, the House mandated its Committees on Federal Character and Public Service Matters to “invite the Head of Service of the Federation and the Managing Director of TCN to explain the rationale for the alleged marginalisation of an entire (Bayelsa) state and other states in an ongoing recruitments exercise.”
The resolution was based on the motion moved by a member of the House,Preye Oseke, titled ‘Need to Address the Short-change Against Bayelsa State in the Skewed Recruitment by the Transmission Company of Nigeria, and Other Ministries, Departments and Agencies of the Federal Government.’
Oseke, in the motion, noted that the TCN was in the process of concluding a recruitment exercise in which over 400 applicants have been favourably considered.
He, however, alleged that “only a few of such successful applicants are from Bayelsa State, despite the very many eligible applicants from the said state.”
The lawmaker said considering youth restiveness on the account of mass unemployment, “this act of bias and uneven distribution of opportunities could negatively impact on unethical conducts perpetrated by youths of the state.”
He stated, “The House is concerned that the disequilibrium of the opportunities skewed against Bayelsa State is not only discriminatory but amounts to a clear breach of Sections 14 (3) and (4) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) on the application of the federal character principle.
“The House is aware that Section 318(1) of the 1999 Constitution defines ‘Federal Character’ as ‘the distinctive desire of the people of Nigeria to promote national unity, foster national loyalty and give every citizen of Nigeria a sense of belonging to the nation as expressed in Section 14(3) and (4) of the Constitution.”
which means that beyond the constitutional imperative to comply with the Constitution is the utilitarian value of fairness and justice.
“The House is worried that the continued marginalisation and discrimination of the people of Bayelsa State in previous and ongoing recruitment exercises by ministries, departments and agencies is a potential cause for disaffection among the teeming unemployed youths in the State who desire gainful employment.”
