By Samson Boroh
Hundreds of unemployed graduates of Bayelsa State origin have accused politicians in the state particularly elected and appointed public officials of allegedly corning the recruitment exercise into the state civil service.
The angry graduates alleged that the 1,000 job slots which Governor Seriake Dickson promised to employ into the service had been share among politicians currently serving in the Dickson-led PDP government.
The graduates under the auspices of Bayelsa State Graduates Forum (BSGF) made the allegation in a statement issued on Wednesday in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital.
The statement signed by the Secretary of the Forum, Mr. Domor Mienye, said politicians have truncated the process and shared the process among themselves leaving graduates without no political connection in disarray.
Governor Dickson had recently approved and ordered the immediate recruitment of 1,000 graduates into the State Civil Service.
Mienye described the exercise as window-dressing, saying that politicians have concluded the process within themselves.
According to him, “The process which started in June 2018 should have been completed by now but the fate of applicants is hanging by a thread.”
Mienye said though members of the group were expectant at the conception that the processes would be followed according to the directive of the State Governor, “we are disappointed by the way and manner the exams were conducted.
“In this age and time where recruitment processes are completely automated, the Bayelsa State Civil Service Commission is subjecting our people to a rigorous yet ineffective semi automated process, where scores for a computer based tests were not published because of their ulterior motive”
He also noted that the irregular manner people from different Local Government Areas were shortlisted for the second round of tests as some LGAs seem to be favoured over the others.
“Information reaching the forum has it that the 1,000 slots have already been shared amongst top politicians and some cronies of the Governor from a particular LGA have highjacked a major percentage of the slots which is making it difficult for qualified graduates that participated in the exercise to be employed.
“We are using this medium to notify the public what the Dr Peter Singabele led commission is doing which poses grave danger if not averted immediately, and we are appealing to the Restoration Governor to call the commission to order as his reputation and integrity will be harmed by this unholy act if not stopped.
“In a nutshell what we are saying is we expect a recruitment process that is free, fair, and credible, no Local Government Area is superior to the others. Hence, we expect the slots to be spread across the various LGA’S using the metrics”, the statement added.
The Secretary concluded that for the interest of Bayelsans the Commission should do the needful and publish the names within two weeks after which the forum will have no choice but to mobilise its members to make a peaceful protest.
Efforts by WARRI TODAY to speak with the state commissioner for information and orientation, Daniel Iworiso Mackson and the State Head of Service, Mr Luca Wellington Obiri proved abortive as they could not be reached through on phone.
