Former Minister’s Favourites Falsified Age To Join Ministry
The immediate past Minister of State for Aviation, Sirika Hadi, is using his position and influence to fraudulently employ his favorites into the ministry, SaharaReporters has learned.
Hadi, who hails from Katsina State, is a former pilot and General Manager, Katsina State Transport Authority.
The former minister is still acting in proxy as a shadow minister, giving instruction and sponsoring illegal employment in the ministry, a source told SaharaReporters on Wednesday.
Late last year, the aviation ministry started working on employing new workers based on shortage of manpower in ARFFs (Fire Dept) and AVSEC (Security dept).
The employment (grade level 04- 06) was designed strictly for WASSCE and National Diploma holders.
The source said, “Some of the bosses from Human Resources, AVSEC and ARFFS went to the four zones/regions to conduct the exercise. Meanwhile, the benchmark for the employment of such, after much deliberation, is 30 (age). However, the GM ARFFS is bent on 26 olds.
“The number of people to be employed is about 1500. Now, people invited to start training at the DSS office at Kaduna were not people being interviewed. Secondly, the people who were called are far above the age of 30. Some are as old as 50 years old but they have been encouraged to falsify their age and documents.
“Subsequently, Hadi Sirika brought about 700 Katsina indigenes who are aged, some physically unfit…While they were asked to go back, people started calling Hadi who then instructed them to return to the (training) camp.
“Last week, some of the General Managers insisted that they won't start the training until those unfit, those who falsified documents and those not interviewed, leave the training center.
“This is three weeks into the time the training is meant to commence. Nothing has started because of these challenges and the said training is said to last for three weeks at the DSS college.
“While they asked them to go back, people started calling Hadi who then instructed them to return to the camp. Even the DSS team is not in agreement with the old faces they are seeing. The union has come in also to say NO to the impunity. Hadi is also moving the FAAN Headquarters to Abuja and from information, the building was contracted to his cronies that he'll also gain from."
The source added, “Meanwhile, there are two directors that are due to leave the service. They are under contract, however, they're now 60 years of age. They are, the Director of Human Resources & Admin in the person of Anozie Honorius and the Director of Commercial & Business Development in the person of Abdulkadir Sadiku Rafindadi: Yet they are still being used by the same Hadi.
“He (Hadi) is doing what he's doing with every confidence that he would be re-appointed and that he would get more money that he'll use for his governorship ambition. It's really messy though, so many things wrong.
“Prior to this time, he's been giving his favorites employment, siphoning funds, using people's names for international training and cornering it. He's doing what he's doing with every confidence that he's returning to get more money that he'll use for his governorship ambition.”