COMPLAINT ON THE EMPLOYMENT, PLACEMENT OF NEWLY EMPLOYED STAFF AND THE CONDUCT OF NEWLY APPOINTED COMMISSIONERS OF THE PUBLIC COMPLAINTS COMMISSION. 1. We are staff of the Public Complaints Commission writing to you about recent developments in the Public Complaints Commission. 2. We first and foremost congratulate you and your Commissioners on your appointment as Honourable Chief Commissioner and Commissioners of the Public Complaints Commission respectfully. We hope and pray that you will exercise God given wisdom, your vast experience in the Judiciary from which you retired from the exalted office of Chief Judge of Plateau State and the laws of our country in leading the Commission to great heights. 3. While we had great hopes for your guidance and experience in leading the Commission to great heights, we are dismayed, worried and disappointed about recent developments in the Commission. The following are most glaring: - (i) On your and your Commissioners’ appointment, we noticed that the Commissioners for Abia, Adamawa, Anambra, Akwa Ibom, Borno, Ebonyi, Edo and Kaduna States have refused to report to their States. They are in the Head Office of the Commission. Since the establishment of the Public Complaints Commission in 1976, no Commissioner (other than the Honourable Chief Commissioner) has been deployed to the Head Office of the Commission, leaving their places of primary responsibility un-attended. These Commissioners have also made it a practice to commandeer and divert resources earmarked for the primary purpose for the establishment of the Commission (which is the investigation of Complaints against administrative injustice) and utilized for purposes unrelated to the Commission’s mandate. (ii) Furthermore, the Commissioners have not only usurped your statutory and constitutional mandate [which is provided in Section 5 (1) of the Public Complaints Commission Act 2004] to coordinate the activities of all Commissioners) by acting for the Commission itself. As it appears, the Commission has become a ship with too many captains steering it in different directions. The Commission is therefore appearing rudderless with a glaring lack of leadership. (iii) From the establishment of the Commission in 1976, there has never been a Commissioner for the Federal Capital Territory. The office is headed by a Director. As a result of the assumption of office by a Commissioner, the Head Office responsibilities have been usurped by the Federal Capital Territory. (iv) As soon as the Commissioners were appointed, the appropriated office spaces in the Commission’s headquarters. Staff (who carry pout the day to day activities of the Commission) were un-ceremoniously herded into cramped offices without regards to staff productivity, welfare and morale. This had led to low-productivity in the Commission. (v) As if the issues mentioned in 3 (i) – (iv) above were not enough, the Commission (which had about 1500 members of staff in all the 36 States, the Federal Capital Territory and the Headquarters) employed about 500 members of staff. This employment was selectively done without the knowledge of the staff of the commission and no advertisements were made for the vacancies to enable Nigerians apply without discrimination. Sir, the Commissioners selected their cronies and placed them in the Commission’s employment in breach of the constitutional mandate of the Federal Civil Service Commission and a breach of the Federal Character principle. There was no aptitude test conducted to determine the suitability of the staff for employment and the result is glaring. A lot the newly employed staff cannot write a correct sentence in English, the Commission’s language for communication. (vi) Furthermore Sir, most of the staff are deployed to the Commission’s headquarters without regard to the availability of office accommodation (which was already cramped as a result of Commissioners appropriating office spaces in the Commission’s headquarters despite having office spaces in their own States). Furthermore Sir, even those deployed to States have been surreptitiously transferred back to the Headquarters of the Commission, further compounding the Commission’s accommodation problems. They are often seen loitering the reception areas, the library and conference rooms of the Commission’s headquarters, (vii) To compound matters, the newly staff lacking in prior public sector experience were placed in higher level the entry points, above more experienced and qualified staff already in the service of the Commission. A Commissioner was seen in the administrative department insisting that someone from the banking sector be placed on level 12. This is someone who graduated in 2006 while officers who have been in the Commission for over 20 years (with the same or even higher qualifications) are on the same level 12. This is even more painful as all staff who were employed from the private sector were not elevated to similar ranks when they joined the Commission’s service. Why is preferential treatment being offered to newly employed staff? This action is not only discriminatory but criminal as it is prohibited by Section 8 of the Independent Corrupt Practices Act 2004 and punishable by 7 years of imprisonment. Shockingly Sir, members and siblings of the same family are employed as children of Commissioner’s and children’s wives are employed in the same Commission as if the Commission is a family affair. (viii) While new members of staff are being employed for the Commission, the Commission’s members of staff who have been promoted are still being paid salaries and allowances on their former scales on the premise that there are no funds. This is leading to discriminatory practices in personnel administration within the Commission. (ix) Some of the newly employed staff who were employed in April 2013 have already proceeded on 4 (Four) months salaried maternity leave in breach of the Public Service rules which stipulate a prorated leave earning period of 6 (Six) months after employment. 4. Sir we are constrained to write as we realize that we have nowhere to refer our complaints to. It is the Commission’s mandate to investigate administrative injustice. It is dismaying that it is the Commission that is perpetrating administrative injustices. 5. We urge you to use your good office to investigate the allegations contained in this Petition and if found true: - (i) Direct all Commissioners to report to their States of Origin as has been the practice in the Commission since establishment and inform the National Assembly of the anomaly in the appointment of a Commissioner for the Federal Capital Territory with a view to reversal of the same; (ii) Advertise vacancies for positions in the Commission (if any) to allow all qualified members of the Nigerian public fairness in application for employment, placement and adherence to Federal character as well as remedy the nepotistic employment undertaken by the Commission; (iii) Reverse the kangaroo employment conducted into the Public Complaints Commission; (iv) Direct all Commissioners who have appropriated the Commission’s property at the headquarters to surrender them to enable staff get office accommodation; and (v) Ensure the payment of the backlog of salaries and allowances owed to staff of the Commission who have been promoted and are still being paid their former salaries. We hope this petition will be granted and look forward to your positive response. Yours faithfully, for: CONCERNED STAFF OF THE PUBLIC COMPLAINTS COMMISSION,
Posted on: Fri, 12 Jul 2013 04:01:06 +0000
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