By Dazumi Ishaku
The alleged lopsided and fraudulent employment of over 250 staff in Federal Polytechnic Bali, Taraba has become an issue of concern.
Investigation reveals that the institution employed over 250 members of both academic and non-academic staff in recent time without following due process as enshrined in the public service rules concerning employment into public offices.
Our correspondent gathered that those issued with appointment letters were not duly interviewed before appointment.
It was also discovered that the institution disregarded the standard of public service rules on employment into public offices by not complying with Federal Character Principles on employment into public offices.
One of the staff of the Polytechnic who spoke with our correspondent on condition of anonymity said the Polytechnic management has received an increase of N50 million on it’s former N30 million monthly allocation to clear backlog of outstanding staff promotion and migration allowances being owed to staff.
He accused the management of shortchanging staff of the Polytechnic by embarking on a shoddy and fraudulent employment which grossly violated the public service rules.
He also accused the management of issuing appointment letters to newly employed staff before asking them to write and submit their handwriting application letters.
“we noticed with dismay that the appointment letters issued to those new staff did not state the date of their resumption of duty which looks dubious and criminal”.
“The management can decide to divert those funds they corruptly earmarked for the employment within the period in which those staff were employed”.
We are calling on the National Board for Technical Education, Federal Character Commission and the Federal ministry of education to probe the scandalous employment carried out by the management of the Polytechnic spearheaded by Dr Jen, Rector of the Polytechnic.
“The relevant agencies should ensure that standard practices are upheld for day to day administration of the institution because the Polytechnic does not belong to a single individual, ethnic group or religion”.
When contacted, the Rector of the Polytechnic Dr. Saidu Jen said that he hurriedly issued the appointment letters to satisfy the MBTE requirements for the introduction of new courses and accreditation of other courses earlier introduced in the Polytechnic.
Dr. Saidu Jen who spoke through the Acting Registrar of the Polytechnic, Sirajo Isa El-Yakub said that the exercise was carried out with a good intention to beat up the MBTE date for visiting the Polytechnic for programmes accreditation.
According to Sirajo El-Yakub, the MBTE has given the Polytechnic a latter notifying us of their visit for accreditation exercise.
He also debunked the allegation that the management violated public service rules insisting that the employment waiver was granted for employment of 80 members of staff since 2015 and interview was conducted there after.
The Acting Registrar further explained that the overshoot in the number of employed staff was due to another vacancies inherent in the institution due to retirement and death of some staff.
He however, said that the management was already in the process of revilidating the employment process as they planned to reach out to relevant agencies on this issue.
On the increament in allocation to the Polytechnic, the Acting Registrar said that the funds were granted in the 2019 budget for the purpose of employment as that had been the management demand over time.
He argued that the funds were not meant for any staff arrears but for the employment of staff to meet up manpower inadequacy in the Polytechnic.
Although, documents tendered to our team of reporters showed that 80 slots were granted by FCC for employment and interview were conducted as far back as 2015 but over 250 we’re employed whose majority did not pass through the interview process.
Also funds were released in line with budget demand for the employment of more members of staff to augment the manpower shortfall.
