The Truth about Untruths: NIIA’s DG Succession Crisis or NIIA as a COVID-19 Isolation Centre?
Iread with much interest media reports on what has been described as a ‘succession crisis,’ following the end of tenure of Mr. Bukar Bukarambe, Professor of International Relations, with particular bias for Afro-Arab studies at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA). His tenure came to an end on April 19, 2020. Before then, he directed the Acting Director of Administration and Finance, Ms. Bridget Otobo, on Thursday, March 9, 2020 to furnish him with information required for writing his hand-over note, but the Acting Director never did. This is the first truism and one rationale for the delay in handing over before the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown.
On Monday, May 4, 2020 Ms. Bridget Otobo wrote to Professor Bukarambe that she had been directed to inform all members of staff about the appointment of an Acting Director General for the NIIA. On Wednesday, May 6, 2020 Professor Bukarambe replied that he never directed her or anyone to inform the staff, arguing that the letter from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Supervisory Authority of the Institute, was addressed to him as outgoing Director General and not to anyone else.
Consequently, in his eyes, Ms. Bridget Otobo went beyond her jurisdictional powers, especially that Professor Bukarambe was yet to officially hand over the baton of authority. Without doubt, there was nothing he could have done during a total lockdown. In the same vein, Ms. Bridget Otobo, also without due process, unilaterally as an acting Director, issued a letter to Mrs. Stella Abimbola Dada, substantive Director of Library and Documentation Services, to proceed on her terminal leave, apparently to avoid handing over to her. In research institutes in Nigeria, retirement is not determined by the regulation in the Public Service (thirty-five years of service or sixty years of age) but attainment of sixty-five years of age. Mrs. Dada has not complied with such directive in the strong belief that Ms. Bridget Otobo does not have any locus standi for behaving as another Director General.
Additionally, Ms. Bridget Otobo issued a circular, convening a meeting of all members of staff, during which she presented Dr. Fred Aja Agwu, Professor of International Relations, as the Acting Director General and Chief Executive. Professor Agwu took advantage of the forum to plead for cooperation and compliance with the rules and regulations, but quickly forgetting what Thomas Jefferson said in French Treaties Opinion, that ‘an injured friend is the bitterest of foes.’ In other words, Professor Agwu had injured most of his research colleagues in different ways. Consequently, many members, not to say the majority of them, held the belief that it is better to have the NIIAclosed down and turned into a COVID-19 Isolation Centre, rather than have him as an Acting Director General of the NIIA.
Thus, there are many problems. First, the problem of who has the right to hand over is raised. Is it Ms Otobo, a Deputy Director, but acting as Director of Administration and Finance, or Professor Bukarambe who was yet to hand over? Professor Bukarambe believed that he was the only legitimate person who could rightly hand over authority as directed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He also believed that Ms. Bridget Otobo should not have had the effrontery of refusing to provide him with the relevant information he requested for, and still be much delighted in acting in his place as another Director General of the Institute. This is the second truism. It is an important background to the reported ‘succession crisis’ at the NIIA.
What is perhaps noteworthy about the reporting of the ‘succession crisis’ is that it has been more of half-truths or total untruths, deliberately given to confuse the general public and create confusion in the Institute, rather than considered as a resultant of ignorance of the reporters. If the stories as reported are not meant to confuse and create politico-academic lull, then questions must be raised on the professional competences of the reporters. My contention here is that the reporters know what they are doing.
Media Report and the Truths
There are two reports I have stumbled at before writing this column: that of Nicheng.com, an online publication, and that of Daily Sun, whose reporters clearly demonstrated the beauty in academic journalism, the gospel of which I have been preaching for more than a decade now. Academic journalism is about going beyond reporting events as they occur, but also making comments that are driven by analysis. Comments can be free but analyses are not. Analyses must always be predicated on hard facts. Let us espy the truth about the untruths, on the basis of textual methodology, in both reports, with the ultimate objective of drawing attention to why it has been majorly difficult for the NIIAand Nigeria to make progress as a research institution and as a nation-state.
The online report by the Nicheng.com is titled, “Exclusive: Confusion in NIIAas outgoing DG hands over to level 13 officer, ignores Onyeama’s directive.” The article was written by Ishaya Ibrahim, the News Editor of TheNiche, and published on Friday, May 29, 2020. The report is the most unfortunate for various reasons. It creates more complex problems than simply informing and educating the public.
The first reason is the complete ignorance of the News Editor regarding the financial structure in academic institutions. In the words of Ishaya Ibrahim, ‘TheNiche learnt that Foreign Affairs Minister, Geoffrey Onyeama, has asked Bukarambe to hand over to the most senior officer of the institution, but he refused, and anointed a level 13 civil servant, Efem Ubi, as the acting directorgeneral.’ The truth here is that Dr. Efem Ubi is not on grade level 13 but on CONRAISS 13, which is the equivalent of Grade Level 15 in the Public Service. Another misinformation by Ishaya Ibrahim is the presentation of Dr. Ubi as a Civil Servant. He is not. He is a Public Servant. This is not about semantics. There is a fundamental difference between and among a Ministry, a Department and an Agency of government.
Asecond reason is that, in the words of Ishaya Ibrahim, ‘Professor Bola Akinterinwa was the former DG who handed over to Bukarambe.’ This statement is not true. It is a white lie. I handed over to Mrs. Stella Abimbola Dada on November 30, 2015. She resumed duty on December 1, 2015. Professor Bukarambe took over from her on January 26, 2016. This type of misinformation cannot be relied on for academic or meaningful research. Ishaya Ibrahim’s report unfortunately taints the record of TheNiche as a credible newspaper.
Athird reason is about half-truths and Ishaya Ibrahim cannot be faulted except that he was unable to ask further questions about what he was told. According to Ishaya Ibrahim, Professor Akinterinwa, ‘five years after he left office, he has refused to let go of his official quarters. He locked it up, while his successor could not do anything about it because he owes his appointment as DG to him.’ Ibrahim Ishaya should have asked from Professor Agwu, his first informant, why it has been so.
Since he has not done so, the truth is that Professor Akinterinwa did not lock up his flat. The very Professor Agwu, along with Professor Charles Dokubo, Ms Agatha Ude, then Director of Administration and Finance et al put an additional padlock to my own existing lock, thus preventing me from entering into my flat. This eventually led to an assault and the referral of the matter to the police and the court. The aftermath of the court prosecution led to other court cases in which Professor Agwu was involved and in other cases that are still pending for court adjudication.
The reporters should ask Professor Agwu questions and Bridget Otobo, whether, in the Department of Administration, dates of birth are not always changed for staff, whether promotion examinations results are not always changed, whether, as DG, I did not draw attention of the then Ike Nwachukwu-led Governing Council to these acts of serious misconduct. More interestingly, Ishaya Ibrahim should ask what the response of the Governing Council to the foregoing. The Council only ‘noted’ them. These are the issues around which the appointment of Professor Agwu are also tied.
And most interestingly, Professor Fred Agwu, like any other professor at the institute, and on the same CONRAISS grade level elsewhere, earns a gross pay of N5,784,756 per annum. He is paying per annum the sum of N491,704.26 for his 4-bedroom flat, one self-contained Boys Quarters (B/Q) and two parking slots, located on Idejo street, in Victoria Island, Lagos. The amount is computed on the basis of 8.5% of annual basic salary, translating to about N40,975.355 monthly. Professor Fred Agwu, who complained about insolvency and inability to pay his rent, a complaint that prompted the Governing Council to jettison the application of the Federal Government’s policy of Monetisation and to introduce the policy of 8.5% of basic salary, rented his B/Q out for more than N300,000 contrary to regulations. He was not alone in doing this, but as I noted earlier, he is still engaging in the act of gross misconduct without impunity.
True and thanks to Major General Ike Nwachukwu-led Council, which refused to sanction acts of gross misconduct, but preferred to condone them by directing that a notice of six months be given to the illegal occupants to quit, Professor Fred Agwu has not complied with the directive of the Governing Council since 2015, even though the ultimatum of six months expired in October 2015.
Apart from Professor Bukar Bukarambe who did not rent out his B/Q, all other occupants did illegally rent out their B/Q. When I was to take sanctionary measures against them at the end of the expiration of six months, Professor Agwu and others les protests against me, insisting that I must be removed. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs wrote to say that I should hand over to the most senior officer because there were protests against me. I responded that I would hand over, not because of any unfounded and non-investigated allegations and protests against me, but because my tenure had not been officially and documentarily renewed. My four-year tenure ended in November 2014, but I still remained in office until November 30, 2015.
To avoid the future distortion of truths about happenings in the NIIAunder me as Director General, and to show the whole world that there is always beauty in honesty and dignity of purpose, I took the main leaders of the protests to court. So far, my dignity has been restored by four different court judgments. I am also happier a Christian that I forgave all those who had wrongly accused me. This is another truism.
In spite of this, the point remains that the act of renting out any part of officially-allocated quarters constitutes a serious misconduct which is sanctioned by dismissal from office, as provided for in the NIIARegulations. Today, ProfessorAgwu is the only one still renting out his B/Q contrary to Public Service Rules and this is the ‘Most Senior Officer’ to whom the baton of leadership is to be given. There is the need to build institutions, rather than seek to destroy them.
Afourth reason is the factor of illogicality in what Ishaya Ibrahim said: Akinterinwa locked up his flat ‘while his successor could not do anything about it because he owes his appointment as DG to him.’ I already noted above that I did not hand over to Professor Bukarambe. To say Professor Bukarambe owed his appointment to me is, at best, not illogical, in the sense that, in the tradition of the NIIA, only core academics can be appointed as acting Director General. The most senior director, when I was to hand over, was a non-academic. I drew the attention of Government to it and noted that Professor Bukarambe was the most eligible and suitable to be so appointed. If he was appointed, he owed it to destiny and to the glory of God Almighty and not to me, a small person. So, I handed over to Mrs. Stella Abimbola Dada on the basis of her being the most senior director and doing so does not require any lobbying. Her acting capacity falls under the provisions of Section 6 on Acting Appointment in the Public Service Rules. Such appointment is administrative and for a short period. It is not political like presidential appointments.
The truth of the matter is that it is not known in history where darkness fights a war with light and wins or where untruth defeats truth in a battlefield. A battle can be easily won, thanks to fire power, but winning war is more complex. Professor Bukar Bukarambe cannot do anything about the locked-up flat because the flat was part of the basis of court prosecution, (See concluding part on www.thisdaylive.com)