Secret Reporters No place to hide
Secret Reporters
As President Muhammadu Buhari beams its searchlight on Federal agencies and civil servants who has turned to millionaires overnight, one of the places overlooked despite endemic corruption is the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) led by Mr Peter Idabor.
Secret Reporters has gathered authoritatively that the Director General runs the agency on nepotism, favoritism and greed to amass wealth.
The Aniocha North Delta born commander has employed mainly people from his ethnic nationality, while the Director of Administration, Mrs Uche Okwechime, who is retiring from the service in few months time, also employed her Igbo people.
Any other person employed by the DG and is not from Delta is asked to change state of origin, so we learnt. This action of nepotism breached the Public Service Rule 020102 which clearly states that vacancies for employment should be advertised in the media.
In the case of application for senior post as stated by the public service rule 020207, the agency since Idabor’s administration has never published shortlisted names, but shrouded in secrecy.
Idabor is not just known to be a tribal lord but also jettison competence and experience for inexperience. In a particular zonal office is, a junior staff who is from his local government was promoted above a senior staff, for no justifiable reason against the Public Service Rule 020106.
According to our reliable sources, most of the female staff currently faces sexual harassment from the DG and other male directors who recommended them for employment. They are unable to speak out, since due process was not observed in employing them.
Despite money budgeted for vehicles and seats, there are currently none of such in many of the zones. Uyo just got a Hilux vehicle after writing numerous letters that they will ground activities if it is not done, while there are no seats and tables to work. The money for the vehicles we gathered was diverted to the personal purse of the DG and his cronies.
The Duty Tour Allowances of officers are yet to be paid them, despite the money made available, but allegedly diverted by Idabor and Mr B.O Akindele, who was formerly in charge of Warri zone but now in Abuja.
Another way through which money is stolen in NOSDRA is the refusal to pay the twenty eight days allowances for over three years to staff, while those with connection at the top have gotten theirs. Just like the 28 days allowances, staff who attended courses without ‘oga at the top’ has not been paid their money, as selective payment is made against the service rules.
Another money diverted by the DG was the 13th month for year 2014 which was released by the supervising ministry, but not paid, stated a source
…To be continued
This report is baseless. Peter Idabor, Ph.D is a highly respected professional that brought a lot of changes to the organisation. In fact, what is the annual budget of NOSDRA that someone will be talking of the Agency turning people to overnight millionaires. I ask that you confirm your information before publishing falsehood. What is the need using just information from an aggrieved staff without verification? Dr Idabor is a perfect gentleman that means very well for Nigerians. I have watched made many local and international contributions on his area of specialisation. Let no one use President Buhari’s anti corruption fight for witch hunt
I very well appreciate the sentiments of the author of this story as it is possible that the provider of the information may have felt marginalized especially from the Uyo Zone which the story relayed that the office there has ‘no tables and chairs’ and the said Hilux vehicle was not provided early enough for their operations. Indeed, I can imagine that the issue of unpaid allowances is enough reason for any staff to be aggrieved especially now that things are very tough. Nevertheless, I think the insinuations made about money being diverted to personal pocket lacks credibility especially for an organisation that has very competing needs for its very limited resources. I have had the opportunity of listening to the DG of NOSDRA lament on issues of underfunding in a public programme Nigerian info FM (95.1) sometime last year. I was shocked at the disclosures he made before the large audience regarding the enormous task of the agency and its limited resources. My immediate conclusion was that the Nigerian government was not yet ready to address the issues confronting oil spillage cum related issues because no agency with an annual budget of about 200 million naira can fight the ills of multi billion dollar oil companies that cause pollution. At times, I just laugh when I hear NOSDRA issue million dollar fines against these oil companies because I doubt if it can afford to even hire helicopters that can help it obtain credible evidence if such issues are brought before a court of law? For me, NOSDRA is huge joke in its present funding status. Realistically, in as much as I support the fight against corruption, I think the contents of this petition merits no National attention. Issues of delayed or unpaid allowances are minor administrative defaults that can be addressed. More so, the story is highly unbalanced as the views of NOSDRA was not even published. The pedigree and qualifications of Peter Idaboh as read by Enya odey, the lady from Nigerian Info Radio that anchored the public event gave me the impression that this man is a round peg in a round hole. Infact, his analysis of the Nigerian situation and next steps were excellently presented. It is really not strange to observe internal disagreements in offices but I actually think that the caption of the story is most inappropriate, I was expecting to read about billions of stolen money not unpaid leave allowances.
Johnson Odiaka,
Environmentalist, Green Match Initiative
Why are Nigerians like this? Is this what journalism has been reduced to ? Why would you ever want to tarnish a mans image when you know nothing about him. I am not close to this man or anyone around him but I have met him once and his personality and humility eluded me. He is a man that is super qualified for the position which he occupies . Please dig deep before you raise dusts or destroy a mans life with false accusations in the name of journalism or making money, even heaven would hold that against you.