The CBN illegal hires scandal jolted everyone.Not that it was anything out of the ordinary to the ears of the average Nigerian but it had an angle never-before-seen.
The ‘unofficially’ official version had fingered one Mrs Chizoba Mojekwu, a former director of human resources at the bank now deployed to Capacity development and IT as the whistle blower. She reportedly got irked by the CBN governor’s move to keep his job by employing the children of influential persons in the APC. Yet some felt the 91 name list had a ‘Buhari’ element to it. Northerners were favoured well ahead of everyone else thereby rubbishing the ‘targeted recruitment of specialists’ and from ‘left out states’ defence issued by the bank.
This ‘school’ believe the CBN governor couldn’t be as daft as to court such unnecessary controversy following the attention the bank was getting from the whole Dasuki saga .Only a directive from above would grow him such balls.
However, the truth remains a privileged few were hand picked and handed jobs they didn’t apply for.The recruitment ‘targeted’ the kids of a minister, a former speaker, a former Vice-President and a nephew of the President among others.This is nothing new if you didn’t move down here recently but the thing is we voted to put an end to it almost a year ago.We voted for change.Change driven by a modest anti-corruption crusader and man of the masses.
Even before his Vice-President’s ‘1.5 million jobs in three years’ pledge a mere few days ago, he had spoken so persuasively of his plan to tackle unemployment during the run-up to the March polls.Nothing has changed.
A good degree still can’t guarantee you a job unless you are privileged to get a note from the President’s nephew or lucky enough to get thrust a slot offered a minister by someone desperately trying to curry his favour.You get the feeling sometimes, the average Nigerian graduate is being saved the stress of applying for government jobs and waiting for interview dates.The most unfortunate part of this menace is that even if it is eventually curbed, it won’t change the fact that a lot of undeserving and perhaps incompetent hands have been lined up to one day play pivotal roles in nation-building.After the present leaders finish recycling themselves, they will usher in ‘targeted specialists’ to be ably assisted by their likes in running this country down.In effect, we would still be screaming ‘Change’ many elections from now.
The Nigerian Youth voted for Buhari’s ‘Change’ not because he wanted to receive a N5,000 stipend monthly but because he was going to be guaranteed a corruption-free atmosphere to tussle for the jobs available.Buhari was not only going to create them, he was going to ensure only the right people got them.Sadly, we are still here on the same spot.
The Apex bank’s ‘targeted specialists’ recruitment policy has been on for about two years now according to its acting director of corporate communications and when asked about the ‘very important appointees’, he said he couldn’t speak much but that any qualified Nigerian could work for the CBN.But if we have to adopt ‘targeting’ as a recruitment policy, then we must put it to the best use possible.
We must reward the gate man who slaved to put his child through school by ‘targeting’ that child.We must ‘target’ the child of the roadside mechanic that topped his class instead of a Minister’s because it would encourage other parents to send their kids to school where he comes from.
They are lighter baggage who wouldn’t put anyone through the stress of ‘remixing’ their names to deceive the public.Its really sad what we have become.
Umar Sa’ad Hassan is a lawyer based in Kano.
