July 18, (THEWILL) — The Federal Character Commission (FCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) have entered into a partnership to establish a Joint Task Force to tackle job racketeering and promote fairness in recruitment across federal government agencies.
The collaboration was announced on Thursday during a high-level meeting between the ICPC Chairman, Dr Musa Adamu Aliyu (SAN), and the Acting Executive Chairman of FCC, Dr Kayode Oladele.
Speaking at the meeting held at the FCC headquarters in Abuja, Aliyu said the collaboration was in response to growing public complaints, particularly from young Nigerians who allege being sidelined in job opportunities due to backdoor recruitment practices and nepotism in the federal service.
“We are seeing a lot of job racketeering in the public sector. Almost daily, ICPC receives complaints from young Nigerians who were denied jobs because recruitment was done through the back door. Some top officials give jobs mostly to people from their villages or states, and that is unfair”, he said.
Highlighting disturbing examples of lopsided recruitment practices within federal agencies, Aliyu said one official was found to have allocated 94 job slots exclusively to his state. This, he noted, led to a gross imbalance, with one geopolitical zone reportedly receiving 189 slots over a two-year period—more than double the allocation for other regions.
“In one agency, a state accounts for 65.72% of the total staff, while others have less than 1%. In another state, one has 12.9% of the workforce, while some states have as low as 0.4%. Is this fair?” he questioned.
The ICPC boss warned that such imbalances, if left unchecked, could deepen public mistrust in government institutions and fuel disillusionment among qualified citizens.
Aliyu said the proposed Joint Task Force will be mandated to monitor recruitment exercises, share intelligence, and prevent employment abuses before they occur. He further called for the immediate formalisation of the partnership through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), to be signed within two weeks.
“This partnership is about ensuring equity, fairness, and justice. It is also about restoring confidence in public recruitment systems. Let us show Nigerians that institutions can work together to build a better future”, he said, adding the ICPC will continue its system reviews across ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs) and share its findings with the FCC to enable swift corrective action.
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