FCC Chairperson and Subordinates Trade Accusations Selling Job Slots

The Chairperson of the Federal Character Commission, FCC, Muheeba Dankaka, and some of its commissioners were, on Wednesday, engaged in accusations and counter-accusations of impropriety and nepotism at the resumed hearing of the House of Representatives ad hoc committee investigating job racketeering at federal establishments.

The committee is investigating ministries, departments, agencies, parastatals, and tertiary institutions on personnel recruitment, employment racketeering, and the mismanagement of the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System, IPPIS.

At the hearing on Tuesday some commissioners of the FCC had accused the chairperson of lying to the House about having a doctor’s appointment to avoid appearing before the committee.

The committee then directed the chairperson and all the commissioners to appear before it on Wednesday.

At the resumption of the hearing, some commissioners accused Mrs Dankaka of running a racketeering ring and disregarding the Act establishing the commission.

Moses Anaughe, the commissioner representing Delta State, accused the chairperson of using agents to sell employment slots.

He claimed that she sometimes demands 10 per cent of the total vacancies in MDAs.

He also accused her of employing her children in juicy agencies where the annual salary is N6.1 million; the other is N8.2 million and presented the appointment letters as evidence of his allegations.

Abdulrazak Adeoye, the commissioner representing Osun State, accused her of removing people’s names from the payroll and replacing them with others.

In her response, Mrs Dankaka said the commission was “a marketplace for selling jobs” before she joined in 2021