ABUJA (SUNDIATA POST)- The Academic Staff Union of Research Institutions (ASURI) and stakeholders in the nation’s Research and Development Institutes sector have criticized the appointment of Professor Abdullahi Mustapha as the Acting Director General of the National Biotechnology Research and Development Agency (NBRDA) at the end of his four-year tenure as substantive Chief Executive of the Research Institute on 27 October 2024.
Describing the appointment as an anomaly, the union, in a letter dated 1st November, appealed to the Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology rectify the error by directing Professor Mustapha to hand over the administration of NBRDA to the most senior Research Director in line with extant regulations.
In the letter, signed by the Secretary General of ASURI, Professor Theophilus Ndubuaku, recalled alerting the Minister through an earlier letter of 18th October about the impending end of the tenure of the Director General, advising the Ministry to commence the process of appointing his successor by following the books.
In spite of this, the union says: “However, our attention has been drawn to the purported appointment of Professor Mustapha, whose tenure just ended, as the Acting DG/CEO of the Agency and we have been inundated with accusations of shirking our statutory responsibility to call the attention of the Ministry to violations of extant rules in this appointment.”
The letter adds: “We respectfully implore the Hon Minister to rectify this anomaly by appointing the most senior Research Director as Acting DG, in line with extant guidelines, while following due process in the appointment of the substantive DG for NABDA.”
Through a letter dated 10th October, which was signed by the Minister, Chief Uche Nnaji, Mustapha was appointed as Acting Director General/Chief Executive Officer of NBRDA “to ensure continuity of leadership pending further directives from His Excellency, the President, on your substantive appointment as the Director General.”
However, relying on a Circular of from the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) on end of tenure of Chief Executives of parastatals and agencies, the union says the appointment of Mustapha in an acting capacity to a position he has held in substantive capacity makes a mockery of integrity.
“We make bold to state and affirm that the appointment of a substantive Chief Executive in an acting capacity to a position he has held for a full term of four years is an anathema that runs foul of established extant procedures for end of tenure of Chief Executives and makes a mockery of governance and the integrity of the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Administration.”
Puncturing holes in the reason of continuity for the appointment, ASURI says: “Without any ambiguity, the Circular by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), dated 4th December 2024, with Ref. No. SGF.50/50/S.II.2/268 and titled “END OF TENURE PROCEDURE FOR HEADS OF EXTRA-MINISTERIAL GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENTS, DIRECTORS GENERAL, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICERS OF PARASTATALS, AGENCIES, COMMISSIONS AND GOVERNMENT-OWNED COMPANIES AND SUCCESSION GUIDELINE” has addressed the issue of continuity.
The Circular under reference, which was signed by the then SGF, Mr. Boss Mustapha, says that “Chief Executives whose duration of term in office are explicitly stated in the enabling Acts of establishment of their respective organizations and/or as specified in the instrument of such respective appointments, are under no circumstances, allowed to exceed the expiration of their tenure in office.”
The circular states: “Furthermore, pending the appointment of a substantive Head of Extra-Ministerial Department/Director General/Chief Executive Officer of Parastatal, Agency, Commission and Government-owned Company, the outgoing Chief Executive Officer must hand over to the next most senior officer of the establishment, as long as the officer does not have any pending disciplinary matter.”
ASURI says it is insisting that due process must be followed, adding that “this course of action will uphold the principles of fairness, transparency, and accountability in the governance of research institutions.”
Its letter, titled “FERVENT APPEAL TO RECTIFY THE ANOMALY OF APPOINTING THE ERSTWHILE DIRECTOR GENERAL/CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER OF THE NATIONAL BIOTECHNOLOGY RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT AGENCY (NBRDA) AS ACTING DG OF THE SAME AGENCY,” was submitted at the office of the Hon Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology on Monday, 4th November.
