Inyali Peter|29 July 2017
It is becoming increasingly difficult to believe anything from the Government of Governor Ben Ayade Benedict especially as it concerns employment. This is because almost all the recruitment exercises purportedly carried out by this government have ended up as big fraud or at best deceits just for showpiece or media propaganda.
If not, how can this government explain the rationale behind deceiving unsuspecting Cross Riverians to gather at stadia across the state in the guise of seeking employment into the Green Police (Now Green Sheriff) and almost two years later, they have seemingly be abandoned. This is after the government deceitfully and dubiously published names of over a thousand five hundred people that have been recruited into the agency.
There are insinuations and allegations that although this people have only been engaged on pages of newspaper, noticeboards and social media, their supposed pay is being siphoned into secret accounts. While this rumour is difficult to believe because of the introduction of Bank Verification Number (BIN) by the federal government, happenings in this government has made it difficult to attempt to argue any fraud allegation against the administration.
I hope it's not true. But if it is, Ayade and the Governor we never elected (Frank Ayade) should know that one day, they will be called to give account of all their misgivings because they are the two key actors that have been fingered in the allegations according to rumour mills.
Sometime last year, when I questioned why the 1,500 Ayade lied he recruited into the agency have been on oblivion, the most powerful Special Assistant, Technical (He's Special Assistant general duties in essence), Arc Eric Akpo explained that they were not engaged last year because there was no budget cover for them. Even when I was not convinced by his explanation because I couldn't reconcile why the Governor will submit a budget without making provision for a critical programme he announced from the very first day he assumed office, I had expected that 2017 will be different because Akpo said optimistically that there was a provision for them in this year's budget as such all of them will be engaged properly.
However, seven months into 2017 even after the budget was hastily passed by the rubber stamp assembly, only ten people the Governor recommissioned are still parading as staff of the agency.
More shocking is the fact that the ten people were not selected from the 1,500 Ayade lied he recruited. This bring us to the question of how this people were selected. Were they hand picked or there was another secret recruitment exercise for them? What method did government use in selecting them? Were they trained? If yes, when, where, how and by who? If no (the obvious truth), Is it appropriate to have untrained security operatives? These and many more questions are begging for answers.
The one thousand five hundred people who were cajoled to misuse their hard-earned money into picking forms for the recruitment are waiting patiently for explanation. I challenge Eric Akpo to come out and defend his initial claims.
The only difference between Ayade's recruitment scam and that of Jonathan and Aba Moro that left sixteen promising Nigerians dead is that nobody died during the fraudulent exercise or simply put, there's no record of death recorded during the exercise.
If the exercise has been cancelled, the government at least owe the people they published their names as being recruited some explanation. May be, monies they paid for forms should be returned and compensation paid for using their names for propaganda.
This article on Ayade recruitment scam will be in series. Stay connected for more!
Inyali Peter
Is a Social Commentator
