Wave of irregularities rocking paramilitary agencies

It is with deep dismay that I’ve been reading that nepotism and bribery are plaguing the country’s paramilitary agencies. I know it is a normal thing for those two to dog almost every sector in Nigeria, but it still struck me as a sad commentary on our lack of intellectual development. One of the reports, which I read online, said paramilitary agencies of the Federal Government under the Ministry of Internal Affairs and directly superintended by the Civil Defence, Fire, Immigration and Prisons Services Board are part of it.

It said scores of petitions have been forwarded to the board by aggrieved staff of every of those agencies alleging that bribery, nepotism and other forms of irregularities characterised promotions and demanding that exam scripts be provided to actually verify performances in the examinations leading to the promotions.

The allegations included that money, too, changed hands. It added that aggrieved officers are insisting that the issue be probed by the new administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, especially concerning promotions in the parastatals under the Ministry of Interior.

One of the reports quoted an officer of a paramilitary organisation as saying: “What is going on in our ministry is terrible. I wrote the exam the last time and I passed very well but when I was asked to pay for promotion, I was not able to pay more than N50,000.”

In another situation involving another organisation, the report said officers continue to express frustration at the unprecedented levels of corruption and general malpractices which characterised promotion exercises. The complaining officers, according to the report, even produced copious documents to establish the malpractices.

Now, I won’t name names, but even I, on my personal experience, have a number of friends and relatives who have confided in me about the fact that they (or their colleagues) have been asked to pay certain huge amounts to facilitate their promotion(s) or to receive their promotion letters. For how long will we as a nation continue to pursue money in such a dirty, uncivilised manner? Here’s hoping the new president does something about it, and fast!

Mairiga wrote in from 14, Niamey Road, Zone 6, Abuja.