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NITDA denies employment racketeering reports

By Peter Ugwu
21 April 2017   |   4:23 am
National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has denied wrong-doings following employment racketing reports circulating in some section of the media.

Director-General of NITDA, Dr Isa Pantami,

National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has denied wrong-doings following employment racketing reports circulating in some section of the media.

The Agency described the reports as malicious and deliberate effort to discredit the achievements of the present leadership.Hadiza Umar (Mrs), the head, Corporate Affairs and External Relations at the Agency, wrote in an email to Nigeria CommunicationsWeek that the Agency has since inception been involved in headhunting individuals that can add value to the effective execution of its mandate and has been engaging staff on Secondment. “In this regard, there is no single staff that has been engaged on Secondment without due approval of the relevant authority”, she said.

According to Mrs. Umar “The management of National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) describes the information that there exist employment racket in the Agency being circulated on some online news media as false

“This is a typical example of disinformation aimed at discrediting the laudable efforts of the current management. We wish to state as follows:

“The Agency has since inception been involved in headhunting individuals that can add value to the effective execution of its mandate and has been engaging staff on Secondment. In this regard, there is no single staff that has been engaged on Secondment without due approval of the relevant authority;

“There has been no employment in the Agency since the exit of Mr Peter Jack, the previous Director General. Only non-pensionable Consultants are being engaged on contract basis to support some offices, departments and units”.

She said that the allegations against some staff of the Agency have been thoroughly investigated about two months ago and found to be baseless and nothing but character assassination.

“There has been no region that has been marginalised in the Agency as the North. Upon resumption of the Director General, there was no single full Director from the entire Northern Nigeria. Very soon the Agency’s nominal roll with states of origin of all staff will be made public;

“The Director General is a man of proven integrity who vowed to do all he can in supporting Mr President’s fight against corruption in all forms, both within and outside the Agency. He has, for the first time, set mechanisms in place that will ensure transparency, accountability and value for money in all IT-based contracts in the country;

“The Director General is the first in the history of the Agency to implement the Auditor General of the Federation’s report. In the over 1,000-page report, about 100 people were affected and the Director General ensured that all recommendations were carried out to the latter;

“The Director General also ensured that contracts awarded by previous Administration were negotiated and reviewed downwards. A typical example is the e-Nigeria Conference where the Contractors brought down the cost by 10% and this was paid back to the account of the Federation. The negotiation saved money for government, not any individuals; and

“The Director General has, in an effort to ensure transparency and accountability in service delivery, instituted a whistleblowing initiative. This is in addition to the Federal Government’s initiative and any staff member that provides credible information that results in the recovery of public funds is handsomely rewarded.

“We thank all friends and well-wishers of the Agency for bringing this false information to our attention. This is the best way in ensuring that Mr President’s fight against corrupt practices succeeds. We want to restate our commitment to serve our country in the best interest of all. We promise to be fair and just to all Nigerians without discrimination or favour”, the statement read.

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