Abuja civil servants say minister favours relatives in appointments

Civil servants in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) are unhappy over what they alleged is the practice of the minister in charge of the territory, Mohammad Adamu Aliero, of allocating top appointments in the ministry to his relatives.

He is alleged to have imposed his cousin, Mohammed Attahiru Kamba, as the General Manager of Aso Television, a development said to have pitched the minister and the board of the station on a collision course.

Another relative, Nasiru Janiju, was said to have been recently named the General Manager of the Abuja Urban Mass Transit, while Kallamu Aliero is the director, administration and finance in the education secretariat. Shehu Maggaji Zagga, a former deputy Surveyor General in Kebbi State, when Mr. Aliero was governor of the state, also recently assumed a senior position at the Abuja Geographical Information Services (AGIS).

Some civil servants in the FCT administration, who spoke with NEXT, said the appointments are causing a lot of bad blood in the service.

“People have kept quiet and are just watching because, as civil servants, they cannot revolt for fear of losing their jobs,” one of them said. “There is also fears that the minister is pushing other staff out to accommodate more of his former aides in Kebbi.”

Mr. Aliero, who recently sacked the board of the Aso Radio/Television Plc said his action was due to the alleged involvement of the seven-man board in the misappropriation of N300 million, and not to pave the way for the appointment of Mr. Kamba as the general manager of the corporation.

The special assistant to the minister on public communications, Abdullai Zuru, also said at the weekend that all the appointments were done on merit and that they followed due process.

Too few to matter

He added that Kebbi indigenes residing in Abuja, just like any other Nigerians, are qualified to aspire to any position in the FCT administration, “after all, how many Kebbi indigenes are in the FCT civil service?” Mr. Zuru said those who have expressed disquiet over the appointments are those “who are out to tarnish the reputation the minister has toiled to build for himself”.

The minister, Zuru said, does not have any relation among the officers so appointed. “They just applied like any other Nigerian and after thorough screening, they were found to be suitable for the jobs,” he said.