The Speaker of the ECOWAS Parliament said the scandal on the alleged marginalization of the Nigerian candidates in the Parliament’s recruitment process as raised by the Nigerian delegation to the ECOWAS Parliament during its 2022 First Ordinary Session in Abuja is misleading as the country has five out of the current ten slots.
Rt. Hon. Sidie Mohamed Tunis in a press conference held at the closing of the Parliament Second Extraordinary Session in Lome said the Recruitment process was transparent and free from all forms of manipulations.
He said “ Gentlemen of the Press, again I want to welcome you to this very short host session, Press briefing, I want to thank you for coming in the first place and just to share with you may be the outcome of the Session itself.
“you will recall that in the last Session in Abuja, Honourable Members raised the issue of recruitment in the ECOWAS Parliament, in fact, the impression at that time was that there were a lot of Malpractices regarding the recruitment exercises, when I got the information I decided to set up a Committee, an independent Ad-hoc Committee, headed by a very senior senator from Nigeria, Ali Ndume, to look at the whole situation, to determine whether in fact one, where Nigerians were marginalized, and number two, whether the process was transparent in line with our Supplementary Act in the staff regulations, and any other issues that may arise from their investigations.
“They submitted their report to me and I called a Bureau Meeting we looked at the report, we adopted it by Law, and based on the fact that the Committee found out that there was nothing wrong with the recruitment exercises, we decided to go ahead to discuss it, to now consider the Advisory Committee Report. The Advisory Committee is provided for in our Staff Regulations, their responsibility is more or less to look at shortlisting and interviews for staff members. The composition of that particular committee is clearly indicated in our Staff Regulations, how to determine who will be a member is already stated in the Staff Regulations so it is just a question of looking at the positions like if they said the Director of Finance is a member, you look at the Parliament who is the Director of Administration you put the person there, its all clear in the Staff Regulations.
“That was done, we considered already, so by Law and in line with the Supplementary Act we have done our part, but of course, because the issue of recruitment initially came up from the Plenary I decided that the Chairman should also report to the Plenary for information purposes only because the Law does not in any way require Plenary to deal with recruitment issues, that’s why if you look at the recruitment issues, reference is made to the head of the institution, which is me, I am the Speaker I am wearing two hats, one as the Head of Institution and the other as Speaker, so as Head of Institutions I can take decisions with regards to that, but then, I can say because colleagues in the Plenary actually raised the issue I needed to be very very clear in my mind and to the public, that in fact the process was transparent and it was all done in line with the Law.
The Speaker further indicated that the reason for the agitations from the Nigerian MPs was a result of the senior P5 positions that are due for promotions to the next level, he said that the promotion for this senior position is to be determined by the Management Succession Committee of the ECOWAS Commission.
“In fact, the reason why the issue of Nigerian staff really came up is the fact that when you look at the P5 positions which are the more Senior positions, almost everybody, in all the 5 positions, everybody that applied and who are acting in those positions is Nigerian right now, but again, the bottom line is that that particular aspect of the recruitment is not done by the Parliament, it is done at a higher level of a Committee called the Management Succession Committee chaired by the President of the Commission, and we are hoping that as soon as possible, interviews for those positions will take place at the ECOWAS Commission. We still have 5 of them and I know all 5 positions, Nigerian are acting in those positions.
“It is also very important that there has been lot of staff about promoting staff members who have served for so long, its very important for us to know that the Rules of Procedure which is the Staff Regulations does not permit promotion from the current P4 positions that some our brothers and sisters especially from Nigeria are occupying to the next level of P5 positions, the Rule says it has to be competitive, In other words, the Commission has to advertise for the whole of Sub Region for people to apply for those positions, so being in an acting position no matter no long does not guaranty in any way that you may even be shortlisted or interviewed for that particular position, because the Rule says it has to be competitive, so is possible you have a Nigerian in Acting in that position maybe for few months or for even one year or two years, but then when it is up for grabs there may be somebody maybe from Ghana or Sierra Leone, or from Guinea Bissau, or from Guinea Conakry, that would be interested in those individuals as long as they are citizens of the community and they are qualified they will be entitled to do the job depending on who does well. So, it is not guaranteed that because you are acting in a position, you are automatically promoted to a P5 Position.
“Some of this information am sharing with you for the information of our brothers and sisters in Nigeria, for them to understand, it is not the Parliament that will stall somebody in one position, it is just a system, how the system is, and I believe the Senator Ali Ndume Committee also made mention of that in their report. So as our brothers, I hope as you are journalists, you will look at it, and inform our Public in the Community, Especially let them understand that that is the situation”.
Continuing, he added ““What I am about to tell you, especially for our Colleagues in Nigeria, because this is where there was huge publicity about malpractices in the ECOWAS Parliament, I want the public to know that the Senator Ali Ndume report which will be given to you clearly exonerated the Parliament that from G to P4 Recruitment as ongoing at the ECOWAS Parliament is transparent and in line with the Staff Regulations and the Supplementary Act, that is very very important I want the public especially our Nigerian Public to know, that there we no malpractices. Number two, that Nigerians were not marginalized at all in the whole process.
“As a matter of fact, out of ten positions from the report now that has been submitted to us by the Advisory Committee, 5 of them went to Nigeria, 1 to Sierra Leone, 1 to Senegal, 1 to Guinea Bissau, 1 to Niger and 1 to Ghana, and it also important and very important to inform the general public that 70% of this new recruitment came from the internal staff, that means people who have already been serving the ECOWAS Parliament, 70% of them were appointed to these positions. So again, out of the ten, 5 of them went to Nigeria, 1 to Sierra Leone, 1 to Senegal, 1 to Guinea Bissau, 1 to Niger, and 1 to Ghana out of the 10 positions that Advisory Committee interviewed candidates, and there is a second lot as Head of Institutions, I will give the necessary instructions for those other interviews to also commence.
“In my opinion, I don’t think it is right to stall the process, especially when they are members, they are our brothers, our sisters, members of staff who have been serving in the ECOWAS Institution for so long and who are looking forward to being promoted; so for me to stall that process, I don’t think it is right. So in my capacity as Head of the Institution, I would give the necessary instructions for the process to continue in line with the Law.
The Speaker, however, stated that before the end of the year the Parliament will conclude all its recruitment exercises as he gave his commitment to ensuring that the process and other activities of the Parliament will be transparent as much as possible.
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