NITDA and Peter Jack’s Can of Worms

Given the significance of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) towards broadening Nigeria’s communication frontiers in the global community, the need to sanitize the agency from the cankerworm of corruption becomes cogent more than ever before.

The ongoing investigations by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Ministry of Communications, and the House of Representatives into the activities of the erstwhile Mr Peter Jack, director general of NITDA, are in sync with this ideal.

In what seem an unbridled ego-flight stirred by a sense of dare, Jack disregarded Ministerial directive that put on hold employment drive at NITDA by flagrantly employing 245.

Without due process, Jack placed them on very high and strategic positions in NITDA and issued appointment letters to them prior to their mandatory interviews, which negates by any stretch of the imagination Civil Service staff recruitment procedures.

A twist in the NITDA 245 staff drama is the allegation of a conspiracy by NITDA’s management to discredit the whole recruitment process under Jack as a kangaroo arrangement by luring some of its gullible members to lie that their employment was subject to monetary inducements.

This move, in the opinion of the NITDA 245 will not see the light of day because there is ample evidence to show the veracity of their claims.

They insist that there exist a comprehensive list of all those who took part in both the oral and written interviews. This includes the few who came through referrals.

Inside sources at NITDA also reveal Jack’s financial infractions as alarming.

Out of the N1.5 Billion earmarked for 2015 personnel budget, only N800 Million was used. This was due largely to the planned expansion in manpower.

In this vein, personnel budget for 2016 was increased to N2.6Billion to accommodate the salaries of the NITDA 245.

Sadly, neither the extra budgetary allocations for 2016 nor the balance from the N1.5Billiion for the 2015 fiscal year reflected on the wage bill of the new staff.

According to sources, towards the end of the 2015 fiscal year, precisely, from December 29-31, 2015, in frenzy to beat the Federal Government’s deadline to MDAs for remittances of unspent monies or budgetary allocations, Jack swung to action and directed NITDA’s Director of Finance to quickly slush the balance from the N1.5 Billion to various staff accounts in order to evade remittance of unspent NITDA’S funds before the end of the year.

That’s not all. It was learnt too that a little over a year ago, the Board of NITDA embarked on an expansionist drive across the six geopolitical zones in the country and made payments for 6 buildings, one in each zone. Uptil now, the buildings are still unoccupied in 2016 due to lack of manpower.

Integral to the 2015 procurement process was the equipping of the 6 zonal offices of NITDA, which has been put on hold by the Minister, Adebayo Shittu in anticipation of a substantive DG.

The argument championed by Jack and his supporters that financial constraints and operational space are twin elements hampering NITDA’s optimal performance, is therefore, inadmissible.

How else do we explain the annual engagement of close to 200 corpers as manpower aid if not in the light of sufficient space? In itself, this action of using corpers as manpower aid contravenes labour law.

As if Peter Jack’s arrant circumvention of government’s directives or NITDA’s statutory responsibilities to the state are not a blatant rape on the Country’s collective yearnings and aspirations for a vibrant and prosperous Nigeria, he resorted to banal publicity stunts in the media to redeem his battered psyche and public image when his can of worms spilled in the public domain with their stark realities via the current investigations.

Such media stunts, if anything, seek to insult Nigerians sensibilities and serve to reinforce the justification of Jack’s suspension from his exalted perch as DG of NITDA based on facts that tally.

However, in the manner of all things Nigerian, it may not be too presumptive to imagine that there will be some form of justice in this matter if the spate of investigations with regard to Jack’s stewardship in NITDA linger more than necessary.

It is almost 3 months since the investigations began, yet none is absolutely certain when they will end and whether the burden of proof of moral and financial culpability will be established against Jack in view of his apparently well-orchestrated propaganda machinery aimed at giving him a clean bill in public glare.

It is certainly an issue political pundits are currently appraising for they are given to the belief that it comes across as the right Litmus test for President Buhari’s vaulted war against corruption.

Buhari’s ‘change mantra’ and anti-corruption war hangs precariously on the balance if NITDA’s can of worms is swept under the carpet on the altar of political patronage.

That, according to observers, will not fit into Buhari’s no nonsense personà and will not curry his significance as a dependable change agent in contemporary Nigeria. So he must leave no stone unturned in his bid to sanitize the system.

The likes of Jack must therefore be brought to book promptly to deter others from following similar paths. Let them have their day in Court!

Equally instructive too is the fact that there is no leadership vacuum in NITDA with the exit of Jack as his hatchet men are bent on making us believe.

Neither is the notion that Jack was not given fair treatment in his suspension by the Honourable Minister of Communications true.

The facts speak for themselves. That he is yet to face the full wrath of the law is an attestation of how porous our laws are.

Under its Acting DG, Dr. Vincent Olatunji who has shown great commitment to shared vision and excellence, which stands him in good stead as a visionary leader, NITDA’s smooth sail onward is assured. Indeed NITDA is being driven at the moment by a gale inspired by leadership savvy, foresightedness, innovation, and recourse to team play courtesy of the vast experience of Olatunji who is poised not only to reposition the agency but redeem its mandate to fast-track an ICT based economy that can compete favourably in the Information Age.

A sad commentary it is that the 245 staff employed by Jack arbitrarily in NITDA before his suspension seem like soar thumbs in the rather vibrant and promising agency due to their non recognition for remuneration by the Ministry of Communications since there is no budgetary provision for them as captured in the Federal budget.

That is the anomaly Jack fostered on NITDA which the current leadership grapples with – how to pacify these floating members of staff whose remunerations are beyond NITDA’s financial leverage.