Reps halt NRS recruitment, threaten action against chairman

The House of Representatives Committee on Federal Character has ordered the immediate suspension of all recruitment by the Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS).

The committee also warned that it could take constitutional action against the agency’s Executive Chairman, Zacch Adedeji, for repeatedly failing to honour invitations from the National Assembly.

The committee, led by Ahmed Idris Wase, accused Adedeji of ignoring several invitations and requests for official documents sent by lawmakers.

At a meeting in Abuja, the committee said it would rely on Sections 88 and 89 of the 1999 Constitution to compel the NRS chairman to appear if he continues to ignore its summons.

These sections give the National Assembly the power to investigate government agencies, summon officials and request documents.

According to the committee, it wrote to the NRS on July 15, 2026, asking Adedeji to submit the agency’s updated staff list and appear before lawmakers on July 22. However, he did not attend the meeting.
Lawmakers said this was not the first time the NRS had ignored them.

They claimed the agency had failed to respond to at least seven previous invitations sent between October 2023 and April 2026.

The committee said the dispute is linked to recruitment exercises and waivers reportedly approved for the NRS by the Federal Character Commission (FCC), despite an earlier directive from the House stopping such approvals.

The Chairman of the FCC, Hulayat Motunrayo Omidiran, also failed to attend the meeting. She informed the committee that she was away on official duty and was ill.

However, lawmakers described her repeated absence as unacceptable, noting that she had ignored several previous invitations.

The committee also criticised the FCC for granting recruitment waivers to the NRS, saying the decision undermined the constitutional oversight powers of the House of Representatives.

As a result, lawmakers directed the FCC to immediately stop all ongoing recruitment by the NRS until the leadership of both agencies appears before the committee to explain their actions.

Speaking during the meeting, Wase said no government agency or public official is above the Constitution.

He stressed that the National Assembly’s oversight powers are meant to ensure accountability and must be respected by all public institutions.

The committee added that continued refusal by government officials to honour invitations weakens democracy, reduces public trust and damages the country’s system of checks and balances.
It also vowed to use every legal and constitutional means available to enforce compliance.

Meanwhile, sources at the National Assembly said Adedeji’s refusal to appear may be linked to allegations of irregularities in previous recruitment and appointments within the NRS.

The allegations followed a Daily Trust report published on January 30, 2026, which claimed that the appointment of five out of the six Executive Directors of the NRS violated Section 17(1) of the Nigeria Revenue Service (Establishment) Act.

The law states that each Executive Director must represent a different geopolitical zone and that the Executive Chairman and any Executive Director must not come from the same state.

The appointments are now being challenged in an Abuja High Court by the Incorporated Trustees of Patriotic Youth Organisations of Nigeria, which is asking the court to stop the affected Executive Directors from performing their duties until the case is decided.

The President, the Attorney General of the Federation and the Nigeria Revenue Service are listed as defendants in the suit.