The People’s Democratic Party, PDP, has accused the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, and officials of the federal government of nepotism in the allocation of the 774,000 jobs across local governments.
In a statement on Monday, August 17, 2020, by the spokesman for the PDP, Kola Ologbondiyan, the main opposition party rejected what it described as political godfatherism as well as underhand measures that favoured cronies of political office holders.
The party said the method used in allocating the jobs was illegal, stressing that it did unpardonable injustice to the generality of unemployed Nigerians who do not have political godfathers and are not affiliated to any political party.
The statement said, “While our party is not against the creation of job opportunities to Nigerians, we reject this crafty political allocation, which is a direct exclusion of hardworking Nigerians from opportunities that should have been open to them under an open and transparent process.
“The PDP notes that since the funding for the jobs is drawn from the national purse, the process should be completely apolitical in a manner that grants unrestrictive opportunity to all Nigerians irrespective of political affiliation, ethnicity or creed.
“The PDP rejects a situation where, in each local government area, 800 slots of the 1000 jobs have already been penciled off to political cronies while the remaining 200 openings are thrown open for contest to the public, which also include politically affiliated persons.
“Such brash violation of the principle of fairness and equal opportunity by the APC and its administration, is a direct invitation to restiveness and acrimony in the country and as such, should be immediately rescinded in the national interest.
“Already, there is a growing uneasiness and restiveness among Nigerians, who would definitely be denied opportunity to participate in this national process.
“This is especially given allegations already in the public space that the resort to political allocation of jobs is designed by selfish APC leaders to corner the opportunities for selfish pecuniary reasons.
“Consequently, our party charges the Federal Government to rescind the resort to political allocation and only engage Nigerians through an open, transparent, and all-inclusive process in the allocation of the 774,000 jobs.”
The PDP called for an apolitical process by the National Directorate of Employment, NDE, that would involve the active participation of non-politically aligned community leaders in the states.
The party urged well-meaning Nigerians to unite in rejection of political allocation of jobs while calling on citizens that fall within the eligibility bracket to go to their local government headquarters and demand for their rights of opportunity to participate in the programme.
“As a party, the PDP stands with the deprived Nigerians in demanding for equity and equitable access to opportunities for all Nigerians, without regard to any form of connections whatsoever”
Source: The Nation
