Is This OBT or VIP? Anger Over SURE-P, FERMA N1bn Rip-Off

Thousands of job seekers across the country are alleging a massive rip-off by two agencies of the federal government which lured them into parting with over N30,000 each.

The job applicants accused the Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA) and SURE-P of making them part with the money on the promise of employing them in a Federal Task Force.

Thirty thousand graduates are believed to have paid the money, bringing the total to N900,000.

Investigation showed that none of the applicants has been deployed since their enlistment last December. They have not been paid either.

Some of the affected people told The Nation that they were made to pay for uniform, enrolment forms, medicals and data capturing among others.

They said the recruiters told them that they would be controlling traffic on federal roads across the 36 states.

But instead of the promised traffic control job, the applicants, according to investigation by The Nation at some of the centres, are being used by the PDP as security and protocol personnel at its rallies and programmes across the country.

Unable to cope with regular invitations to rallies and drilling sessions while not being paid salaries or allowances, some of the applicants have opted out.

The situation has not stopped more people from applying, sources said.

One applicant said: “I applied for the programme in January this year. Since then, I’ve paid N32, 500 for uniforms that I am yet to get. I also paid N2, 200 for the enrolment form. All I’ve got so far is a letter enlisting me as part of a FERMA/SURE-P empowerment programme.

“My friend even paid N10, 2000 for what they called late form. But no employment letter has been given to me yet.”

Some of them sighted at the Ojota office of the Task Force in Lagos said they are made to report there daily for drills and trainings.

“None of us has been given any job. This is the ninth month. We have paid so much. We even paid for medical. This T-Shirt and fez cap, we bought them for N2, 500 each. We also paid for another form called traffic form. Some people have spent more than N50,000 but I’ve only spent about N40, 000,” another applicant said.

Asked why they go round the country to be part of political rallies, another applicant said the recruiters said it is necessary to remind the President that they are still waiting for his approval for their postings.

“They say we must go and parade at every rally where the president is present so as to remind him that we are still waiting for his approval. They say it is only when that approval comes that we will be posted to various federal roads across the country.

“They even promised we will take over the control of all federal roads in Lagos from the Lagos State Traffic Management Agency (LASTMA). Sometimes we even control traffic along the expressway here at Ojota and at Shangisha area. We do this for free because we are not being paid yet,” he added.

But promoters of the programme claim the federal government granted approval to the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P) and Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA) to set up a task force to maintain traffic on the federal roads.

They said upon a go ahead from the presidency, the organisation will deploy its men on federal roads in the state to maintain law and order because the Act setting up SURE-P/FERMA empowers it to carry out such civic responsibility on federal roads.

“There is hope. It is only opposition politicians that are trying to discredit the programme. Officers are yet to be posted because the agencies are still working on the salary structure and scope for the programme. As soon as that is done, officers will be posted to different federal roads in the state.

A graduate should get no less than N80, 000 as monthly salary when we are ready to roll out; but as the salary structure and scope are still being deliberated upon, one may have to exercise patience. For all potential SURE-P/ FERMA officers, patience is the word for now,” an official at the Lagos office told our correspondent.

Speaking on the controversies surrounding the programme, Abdul Razak Rafiu Otto, a chieftain of the PDP who is also the National Coordinator of the Federal Task Force, said the programme is legal and in conformity with the laws of the land.

“This programme has been in existence for the past three years now and it was set up by the Federal Government to further make the people feel its impact more. We are not out to deceive anybody. Whatever we are doing is legal and we are bound by the law of the country.

“The question one should ask people making this insinuation is: did the President complain to you that we are doing illegal things here? Did the State Security Service, SSS, complain about our activities? This is a federal government programme for all states.

“We are not just in this state we are  in all the 36 states of the federation, including Abuja. So, I don’t see why anybody will be talking about deceiving people here,” he said.