NAFDAC denies alleged funds misuse by DG

Director-General of NAFDAC, Paul Orhii
Director-General of NAFDAC, Paul Orhii
The National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has debunked allegation of misappropriation of N6 billion, said to have been levelled against its Director-General, Dr. Paul Orhii, by former Director of Finance and Accounts, Andrew Ademola Mogbojuri.

Mogbojuri was the Director of Finance and Account until some weeks ago when he was redeployed to Planning, Research and Statistics (PR and S) and subsequently to the agency’s Training Institute in Kaduna.

The agency blamed the redeployment of Mogbojuri on his impunity. While Mogbojuri kicked, some staff of the agency rejoiced. But there was a new twist to the redeployment saga some days ago when members of NAFDAC branch of the Medical and Health Workers Union of Nigeria (MHWUN) urged the management to “clean up wrong-doings” allegedly perpetrated by some directors at the Finance and Account Directorate, and the Administration and Human Resource Directorate.
At a press briefing at the weekend in Lagos, the union chairman, Ibrahim Attah, specifically accused Mogbojuri of setting a wrong precedent by allegedly refusing redeployment, claiming that most of the issues that led to strike in the agency some months ago were caused by his failure to release money to meet the union’s legitimate demands, even when mandated to do so.

But in a swift reaction, Mogbojuri accused the union of receiving bribe from the management of the agency to implicate him, just as he accused the agency management of witch-hunting him for not servicing its greedy interest. He went on to accuse Orhii of financial misappropriation.

But in a statement yesterday, the Director of Special Duties, Dr. Abubakar Jimoh, debunked the allegations, describing them as “misleading and cheap blackmail.” “As a matter of fact, we have not done any of those things. We are also studying the allegations,” he said.

Jimoh accused Mogbojuri of being “disgruntled and aggrieved,” adding that “he was removed as director of finance based on incompetence and insubordination.”

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