Job Scandal: Senate President Lawan ‘Gets’ 26 FIRS Slots

Senate President Ahmad Lawan (Yobe North) was said to have secured 26 job slots for his constituents, from the Federal Inland Revenue Service, Daily Trust exclusively gathered.

This is just as the job scandal rocking the upper chamber gets messier with senators threatening showdown over the sharing formula of the employment slots given to them by the federal agency.

Employment letters were said to have since been distributed to the beneficiaries by the Senate president.

A senator, who spoke to Daily Trust yesterday, accused Lawan of “hijacking the 26 slots without considering other senators, not even from his state.”

A youth association from Lawan’s constituency, Unity for Collective Progress Forum, yesterday said all the beneficiaries had received employment letters and were expected “to commence work in earnest”.

The association gave the breakdown of the beneficiaries’ local government areas, from Lawan’s constituency as Nguru, 5; Karasuwa, 3; Machina, 4; Bade, 7; Yusufari, 4 and Jakusko 3. The Socio-Economic Right and Accountability yesterday asked Lawan to clarify the allegations that 100 employment slots for federal agencies were allocated to 10 principal officers of the Senate.

The spokesman of the Senate president, Ola Awoniyi, neither answered several phone calls nor replied a text message sent to him last night. The spokesmen of the Federal Character Commission and the FIRS also did not answer phone calls on the issue.

Speaking to Daily Trust, Chairman, Senate Committee on Federal Character and Inter-Governmental Affairs, Danjuma La’ah, said the committee had commenced an investigation into the alleged lopsided recruitment by some federal agencies. “I am making my investigation underneath to avoid disgracing people, “ he said.