Over 300,000 job seekers have applied for the 5,000 vacancies advertised by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).
An official of the anti-drugs agency said that vacancies were for just 5,000 people According to the senior official ,300,000 application had been received by the agency.
However, concern officials of the agency have petitioned President Muhammadu Buhari to as a matter of urgency review the selection of applicants as they accused the Director-General of NDLEA, Muhammad Abdallah, and a retired Director of Administration and Finance, Yohanna-Silas Mshelia, of singlehandedly handling the recruitment exercise instead of the normal committee that used to handle the applications.
In a statement signed by Musa Ahmed Yusuf on behalf of the officers who claimed that they were marginalised alleged that Mshelia who worked till the last day of his retirement on Friday October 11, had refused to hand over with the intention of elongating his service contrary to the Federal Civil Service regulations.
Part of the statement reads: “Abdallah has no power to extend the service of a retired officer. We are demanding the immediate hand over of Mr Yohanna-Silas Mshelia, to the most senior officer in the Administration department. We also want him to be investigated for the illegal payments to Abdallah for inconsequential monthly foreign travels since 2016.
”Mshelia working under the directives of Abdallah used Emplug, an ICT firm that he established for the recruitment portal to swindle the agency of N100 million. Already, Emplug has been paid N60 million just for creating the recruitment portal that lasted for only three weeks. Recruitment in the agency is usually handled by a committee of officers drawn from the directorates of training and administration, but the ongoing recruitment is being handled by Mshelia and Abdallah using Emplug which is their company.
“The worst thing that will happen to drug control in Nigeria is for him to be allowed to conduct the ongoing recruitment. Abdallah has perfected plan to deceive Nigerian youths by corruptly selecting 5,000 persons through the backdoor who did not apply online leaving the over 300,000 applicants that took the pain to apply in utter frustration and neglect.
“When officers die there is no money, when they are transferred, there is no money, but there is money for his monthly travels abroad. Out of the NI00 million fee, Abdallah has paid Emplug N60 million for creating a portal. This is unheard of. This administrative recklessness must be urgently addressed by the presidency. In fact, we have passed a vote of no confidence on him.
”We are aware that over N300,000 applicants applied online for this recruitment but unfortunately, Abdallah has shortlisted 5,000 that did not apply online for the job vacancies. Why ask Nigerians to take the pains of applying online when you have already selected your candidates? This is unacceptable to us as Nigerians. Apart from corrupt practices of siphoning the agency’s overhead for baseless foreign travels and the recruitment scandal; Abdallah has equally sat on officers’ promotion. He has refused to clear the backlog of promotion.
Abdallah had promised to conclude the promotion of staff on Grade level 03 to 06 by June 2018 and continue up the ladder, but the assurances never saw the light of the day. Even when he made officers to write promotion examination in August 2019, he still refused to release the promotion in October. These are clear signs of administrative ineptitude and nonchalance.
“Emplug firm used by Abdallah and Mshelia to defraud the agency should be investigated and the one hundred million deal be immediately revoked while the 60 million paid be refunded”.
In a swift reaction, the Public Relations Officer of NDLEA, Jonah Achama, said : “All the allegations are baseless. Yohanna Sila Mshellia, former Director of Administration and Finance, has retired as at Friday, October 11, which was his due retirement date.
“The collation of all applications is ongoing, contrary to the claims in the petition. The Chairman/Chief Executive has assured of equal opportunity for all applicants”.
