Crisis brews in NBRDA as DG returns in acting capacity

The Academic Staff Union of Research Institutions (ASURI) and key stakeholders in Nigeria’s research and development institutes have opposed the recent appointment of Professor Abdullahi Mustapha as Acting Director General of the National Biotechnology Research and Development Agency (NBRDA).

This decision comes on the heels of Mustapha’s four-year tenure as substantive Chief Executive of the research institute, which ended on October 27, 2024, and his reappointment in acting capacity by the Federal Government.

ASURI represents research fellows in federal research and development institutions, inter-university centres, colleges of agriculture and forestry, and allied institutions.

Describing the appointment as an anomaly, the union, in a letter dated 1st November 2024, appealed to the Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology, Uche Nnaji, to rectify the error by directing Professor Mustapha to hand over the administration of agency to the most senior Research Director in line with extant regulations.

In the letter signed by the Secretary General of ASURI, Professor Theophilus Ndubuaku, he 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 due process.

“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.

“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 NBRDA”.

Recall that in a letter dated 10th October signed by the Minister, Mustapha was appointed as Acting Director General/Chief Executive Officer of the agency “to ensure continuity of leadership pending further directives from His Excellency, the President, on your substantive appointment as the Director General.”

With reference number FMIST/HMIST/AG/VOL.11/144/65, the Minister said his appointment is a testament to the confidence ‘reposed in your capabilities to advance the agency’s mission and to drive impactful research and development initiatives in the biotechnology sector’.

However, relying on a circular 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 said Mustapha’s appointment in acting capacity to a position he has held in substantive seat makes a mockery of integrity.

He said: “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.”

The Union faulted the reappointment of the DG in acting capacity, adding that: “Without any ambiguity, the Circular by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), dated 4th December 2017, 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'”.