TCN recruitment: Oseke raises motion over alleged shortchange of Bayelsans

ABUJA —The lawmaker representing Southern Ijaw Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, Hon. Preye Oseke on Thursday raised a motion in the House over the shortchange of Bayelsa State in the recruitment by the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN). 

Oseke in the motion informed the House that the TCN which is already in the process of concluding the recruitment exercise has considered over four hundred applicants. 

According to him, only a few of such successful applicants are from Bayelsa, despite the many eligibly qualified applicants from the state. 

The lawmaker argued that considering the effects of youth restiveness on account of mass unemployment, the alleged act of bias and uneven distribution of opportunities could negatively impact the state. 

“Disturbed that the disequilibrium in the spread of opportunities, skewed against Bayelsa, a state which contributes enormously to the common purse, is not only discriminatory but amounts to a clear breach of sections 14 (3) and (4) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) on the application of the federal character principle. 

“Notes that specifically, section 318(1) defines federal character as ‘the distinctive desire of the people of Nigeria to promote national unity, foster national loyalty and give every citizen of Nigeria a sense of belonging to the nation as expressed in section 14(3) and (4) of the Constitution. 

“This means that beyond the constitutional imperative to comply with the Constitution is the utilitarian value of fairness and justice,” the motion reads in part. 

Oseke averred that the continuous marginalization and discrimination of Bayelsans in previous and ongoing recruitment exercises by Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) is a potential cause for disaffection among the teeming unemployed youths in the state who desire gainful employment. 

After the presentation of the motion, the House mandated the Committees on Federal Character and Public Service Matters to invite the Head of Service of the Federation and the Managing Director of TCN to explain the rationale for the alleged marginalization of an entire state in the ongoing recruitment.

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