The Federal Character Commission has secured a bench warrant from Justice Abdul Kafarati of Federal High Court, Abuja, for the arrest of the Director-General of the Debt Management Office, Dr. Abraham Nwankwo, and all the directors of the parastatals for failing to comply with its principle.
The commission also warned that, henceforth, it would not hesitate to sanction any agency of government that violates its directives.
Executive Chairman of the FCC, Prof. Shuaibu Abdulraheem, stated this on Monday in Abuja at a two-day sensitisation/training workshop on submission of nominal roll for desk officers in Ministries, Departments and Agencies of the Federal Government on the online submission of nominal roll format and process.
According to him, the ultimate goal is not to punish anybody but to get people to comply with the commission's law.
The training, which was aimed at securing a good relationship between the FCC and MDAs, according to Abdulraheem, would also open a new chapter in the relationship between the commission and MDAs.
He said, "We have been taking proactive measures in the past and we have been preoccupied with persuasions and sensitization. We have come to the end of all of that now. We have begun to wield the big stick now by getting agencies, which are not complying with the FCC Law prosecuted.
"We have had a few organisations dragged to court. We have actually taken people to court. As I speak now, a whole management and the Chief Executive of a major Federal Government parastatal is being issued with a bench warrant of arrest and detention, pending his appearance in court next week and that is the Debt Management Office.
"We have secured a bench warrant for the arrest of its Chief Executive (Abraham Nwankwo) and all the Directors in DMO for failure to comply with the Federal Character Law after several interactions, warnings and cautions and proactive steps meant to avert any embarrassment to anybody."
According to the FCC law, all MDAs of the Federal Government are required to voluntarily submit unalloyed and periodically, nominal rolls of the staff in their respective agencies.
Abdulraheem, however, said, "Over the years, we have experienced difficulties. The submission has usually been by hand, post and generally by hard copies and this has created problems about getting accurate information as and when required."
The Punch