Senate wants stiffer sanctions for job racketeering

The Senate says it plans to enact a law prescribing stiffer sanctions to stem job racketeering and disregard for federal character principles in employment.

The Chairman, Senate Committee on Federal Character and Inter-Governmental Affairs, Sen. Allwell Onyesoh, said this at a meeting with the management of the Federal Character Commission in Abuja on Tuesday.

Onyesoh said that Nigerians were used to reacting to employment issues using emotion without clarifying or carrying out further investigation on the issue around the employment process in Nigeria.

“It is something that is very dangerous; a simple statement like, Oh, this thing is out, we are not getting it.

”There is a job there; they are employing secretly, which is enough to cause problems.

“And the purview of the FCC covers that; hence, we felt it was proper to call them and sit down, dot the 'I', and cross the ‘t’, making every one of their activities more transparent and more glaringly clear for people to see.

“We want to open up the space,” Onyesoh said.

He said that the essence of the federal character was to create unity, fairness, and equity.

“You can’t have that if someone is feeling rejected or not carried along.

“You must put some sanctions in place; if you want things to work, we are considering stiffer penalties; there must be consequences for everything.

”This is one of the few committees that derives it’s power from the constitution,” he said.

Earlier, the Executive Chairperson, FCC, Dr. Muheeba Dankaka, said that the issue of job racketeering was new to the office.

She also appealed to the committee to help the commission with upscaling its budget, given the enormous responsibility of the commission.