The immediate past Chairman of the Governing Board of Projects Development Institute (PRODA), Enugu State, Comrade Daniel Onjeh on Tuesday called for the reversal of the removal of Fabian Okonkwo as the Director-General/Chief Executive Officer of the institute,
The was contained in an open letter to President Muhammadu Buhari, which he read to news in Abuja at a World Press Conference during which he accused the Minister of the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology, Dr Ogbonnaya Onu, of deploying “backdoor tactics” to dissolve and reconstitute the Governing Boards of Agencies under the Ministry.
The former Chairman of the Institute described Okonkwo’s removal as unlawful as he was duly appointed by the president, said it should be discouraged and promptly reversed, else it would set a bad precedent for other Ministers.
According to him, “such impunity and disregard for presidential directives would be a major setback to Buhari’s administration which is built on the foundation of integrity”.
Onje, a former president of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), urged President Buhari to urgently constitute a high-powered committee, such as the Prof. Itse Sagay Committee, to launch full-scale investigations into the financial mismanagement at PRODA and other parastatals under the Federal Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation.
He said that the investigation should detail the involvement of members of the National Assembly and the committee’s report should serve as the basis for further investigation by the EFCC, ICPC and other anti-graft agencies.
Onje, who served as chairman from 2018 to 2021, also called on the Federal Government to investigate the PRODA School Pencil Project, and the promises of the Minister, Dr. Onu to Nigerians that the project would commence before December 2020, and would create 4,500 jobs for Nigerians.
According to him, “It is 2022 now, and the project has not employed even one additional staff since the Hon Minister came to commission it in 2020. Besides, all the equipment and machines used on the project are imported from China, whereas PRODA is a Research and Development Institute that is expected to utilize local raw materials for the innovation, design and construction of its tools and equipment”.
He pointed out that a more systematic approach that would tackle corruption from its roots and quash all the corruption cartels in Nigeria’s public and private sectors, be adopted to waging the war against corruption in Nigeria.
This, he said, is because the arrest and detention of individual corrupt elements does not significantly affect the operation of the corruption syndicates and cartels.
He also called on Federal Government to urgently organize a retreat for all Board Members of all Federal Ministries and Parastatals, to fully make them aware of their duties, functions and powers, so they can be alive to their onerous tasks of ensuring checks and balances in the administration of the various Ministries and Parastatals under which they are serving.
According to him, “The Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of government are the final points of implementation of government policies and programmes. The delivery of our campaign promises is hinged on the attainment of budget targets. Hence, if the MDAs fail to perform in line with set targets, their shortcomings would certainly rub-off on the Administration. Your Excellency, the abysmal performance of some of your trusted appointees sometimes leaves some of us, your devoted supporters, short of words in assuaging the worries and fears of the teeming Nigerian masses that are looking up to your leadership.
“I must admit that it was a very difficult decision for me to bare my thoughts to you on this matter, being that I am a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and a stakeholder in your
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