5th May, 2015
Hundreds of recruited officers of the Subsidy Reinvestment and Employment Programme, SURE-P and Federal Task Force, FERMA on Monday staged a protest at the office of the National Human Rights Commission, NHRC, to draw its attention to their plight. The officers who were engaged by the two Federal Government agencies in the last two years claimed that their employment is a total scam as they have never been paid a dime since their engagement. They accused the management of SURE-P, FERMA and chieftains of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Lagos of exploiting them for political gains.
While we sympathise with these young, energetic and vibrant men and women who appear to be victims of PDP’s engineered job scam, we believe that this scam could have been avoided if those affected had listened to our initial advice on the matter. After a thorough investigation last year, we had warned that the recruitment exercise by SURE-P and FERMA into its task force team was nothing short of a scam and an attempt to defraud millions of unemployed citizens roaming the streets.
We had insisted that there was something sinister about two federal government agencies collecting over N50,000 each from over 70,000 job seekers without getting them properly engaging in any job. The desperate young men and women were kitted in paramilitary uniform and subjected to rigorous training exercises for a non-existing job. For want of what to do, they were drafted into Federal roads in Lagos where they clashed with the Lagos State Traffic Management Agency, LASTMA, officials
The expectations of these young men and women remained high as they believed that since Lagos PDP chieftains like Bode George and Musiliu Obanikoro were behind the scheme, then it must be genuine. We had called for an investigation into the employment scheme. Government never heeded that call neither did many other job seekers who were desperate to pay just any amount to get the next available job, listen to our warning. Several other desperate job seekers still fell victims despite our warning.
Following Monday’s protest by the SURE-P, FERMA employees at the National Human Rights Commission office in Oshodi, Lagos, the truth which we had always known had finally surfaced, that is, the SURE-P, FERMA employment scheme is a big job scam aided by government. Sad as this development appears, we believe that any attempt to sweep the matter under the carpet would be a great injustice to the hundreds of innocent job seekers who have fallen victims of the scam.
With just a few weeks to the end of the present administration led by Goodluck Jonathan, we believe the task of investigating this obvious fraud should be that of the incoming administration. President Jonathan has shown inability to tackle corruption which gave rise to such monumental scam perpetrated by top members of his party. The money collected from these unfortunate victims of the job scam is estimated at over N35 million. This money must be recovered and handed back to the owners.
With the coming of Gen. Muhammed Buhari as Nigeria’s president on May 29, many corrupt PDP chieftains and government officials involved in this fraud may most likely flee the country for fear of prosecution. This is the reason we believe that a timely commencement of investigation into this fraud would be very necessary so that those involved will answer for the crime.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, must probe the scam immediately. This is a pure financial crime and since the victims claim that they have officially made a complaint to the EFCC, investigation must begin immediately. These young men and women who have endured hardship and subjected themselves to fruitless trainings and task must not be denied justice. Everyone involved in this scam, no matter how highly placed, must be brought to justice.