EMPLOYMENT racketeering seems to be having a field day in Nigeria at the expense of poor, helpless, and desperate job-seekers who want an escape from the labour market and seek to become gainfully employed.

DESPITE concerted efforts to stem the tide by the government and spirited individuals, unemployment continues to plague Nigeria’s productive force as the Nigeria Labour Force Survey still records a staggering unemployment rate of 4.3 percent in the second quarter of 2024, reversing the rising trend in the previous three quarters.

 IT may come as relatively cheering news that the underemployment rate fell from 10.6 percent in the first quarter of 2024 to 9.2 percent in the second quarter. However, it is not yet Uhuru.

IT is worrisome that some unscrupulous Nigeria have taken the situation as an opportunity to defrauds helpless job seekers of their meager savings through sales of Job opportunities which has come to be known as “employment racketeering”.

RECENTLY, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila, came under fire as he was accused of underhand dealings, selling federal appointments to the highest bidder, and favouritism in political appointments.

ALTHOUGH  his boss rose in his defense,

many Nigerians think that there is no smoke without fire.

IT is almost commonplace to hear that job openings are being filled secretly by the custodians of these sacred public institutions. The most painful is that many poor job seekers would have been drawn out into buying forms, while the custodians are well aware that only a few slots are available.

THROUGH several investigative reports, The Hope has it that a lot of youths borrow money to buy forms and bribe anyone who promises them of being picked during the interview and the selection process while those whose families can afford it patronize job racketeering peddlers rather than wait for unreliable job advertisements from MDAs.

IT is regrettable that as the government is fighting to reduce corruption in the Nigerian system, the people saddled with the responsibility of managing government agencies, departments, and ministries are also bent on undermining the efforts of the government through job racketeering and other corrupt underhand practices.

JOB racketeering is assuming a frightening proportion as it is becoming rampant in almost all government agencies. The report indicates that there are cartels which  specialized in doing this in all government agencies, parastatals, and ministries.

A Punch newspaper publication of November 20, 2023, reported that an investigative panel set up by the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare indicted Dr. Olumuyiwa Owojuyigbe, the former Chief Medical Director of the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital, Ile-Ife, Osun State, of over-employment and job racketeering. Also, The Premium Times of August 29, 2023, reported that a committee of the House of Representatives charged with investigating job racketeering in government parastatals has been engaging in extortion of money from heads of federal ministries, departments, and agencies, including those of tertiary institutions across the country, to exonerate them from the accusation of job racketeering”.

THE  habit of selling jobs that the leaders in the present position got on a platter of gold to desperate youth seeking job placement is barbaric and unfortunate. It depicts the leaders in the system as worthless, greedy, and selfish people. Our value system is deteriorating and completely being eroded at all levels of our existence.

MERITOCRACY as one of the cardinal principles of public service has been stripped of its right of place in Nigeria; rather tribalism, god-fatherism, and political affiliation are the yardsticks for recruitment into the civil service and public service. This is the basis for the dysfunctionality of Nigerian public institutions, which are not optimally functioning like other nations.

WE, at The Hope find it unfortunate that the civil service as the engine that propels public policy formulation and implementation, is riddled with imposition, job racketeering, and favouritism. It lacks objectivity, equity, and justice in the treatment of staff.

NOTICEABLY, all is not well with our public institutions because our mode of recruitment is subjective, parochial, ethno-culturally biased, and against universally acceptable norms, and this often results in abysmal productivity, even in policy making and implementation. Civil service recruitment is not transparent enough to attract the best brains; most Nigerian civil servants are obtuse and still depend on paperwork for the preservation of materials and data through a manual filing system, which is obsolete, rather than an automated information system of web applications that is safer and more reliable.

THE Hope calls for proper and diligent investigation into the human resources department of all government sectors because it is a fact that elements involved in job racketeering are becoming emboldened to advertise their trade to the highest bidder, ranging from 500,000 to 1.5 million and 2.5 million Naira in some instances, depending on the agencies.

THE public service must also be reworked and re-engineered to function optimally to meet the desired expectations. Effective government business is hinged on well-oiled public service wheels therefore every corrupt and underhand practice must be stamped out to restore the diminishing glory of the sector.