FCT Retires 165 Directors, 93 Others Sacked
Indicted workers to be prosecuted
From Andy Ekugo in Abuja
The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) has officially released the list of 258 staff compulsorily retired from its services. The list drawn from both the Ministry of Federal Capital Territory (MFCT) and the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) affected 17 directors, 55 deputy directors, 93 assistant directors and 93 other categories of staff. The retirement exercise, THISDAY gathered is only the first in the series expected in the months ahead.
Some of those retired were alleged to have been involved in large-scale corruption like land deals, ghost workers, fake Certificates of Occupancy, duplication of allocation, illegal allocation, which resulted to the alteration of the masterplan of the city.
Some of the workers were, however, retired for redundancy and incompetence, while others were sacked for not having requisite qualifications for the positions they held.
The education department topped the list of those affected by the exercise, with 46 retired staff, followed by Planning & Survey with 39, Staff Development Control, 26, while Public Building has 22.
Those who were believed to have been retired for alleged corruption THISDAY gathered, would be prosecuted and their benefits forfeited.
Some of the directors who were affected by the retirement exercise include the Directors of Land (MFCT), Mr. M. Kalgo, Finance and Accounts (MFCT), S.E Ameh, Health (MFCT), Ayo M.O, Director PRS (MFCT), Mohammed Jir, Dr. O. Ofoegbu (Education, MFCT) and H.F Osobu (Admin, MFCT).
Others are Directors of Legal (MFCT), P.Y Okalla, MA&E; (MFCT), M. A. Ajana, and Economic Development (MFCT), Sunday Obamiro.
Under the FCDA, the Directors of Admin and Supply, Umaru James, Development Control, Sunday Ogunmola, Maintenance, Audu Umaru, Y. S. Mohammed and Okoro Mathias, both directors in the Engineering department. Others are Col. B.T Kachim, FCT Sport Council, and Tatari Moses Akanu, Area Council, Service Commission.
A letter of retirement signed by Engr M.S. Alhassan, the Executive Secretary FCDA, stated that "the on-going reforms of the Federal Govern-ment of Nigeria through the National Economic Empower-ment and Development Strategy (NEEDS) programme has among other strategies necessitated the need for the reformation of government and institutions by way of restructuring, right sizing, professionalising and strengthening of government and public institutions. The Ministry of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) are among five government organisations selected to spearhead these charges."
It further stated that with the reforms, the services of the 258 persons were "no longer required and you are hereby retired from the services of the Federal Capital Development Authority".
The letter noted that the retirement "takes immediate effect and your entitlements will be paid to you in accordance with the terms of conditions of service less any indebtedness to the authority"
According to the FCT, the exercise is the first phase in a series that took over nine months to compilethe list of those to be affected. Indications are that more people would lose their jobs not only in FCT but also in Finance Ministry, State House, Information Ministry and National Planning Commission which are the five pilot areas where the NEEDS reform strategy is being implemented.
Meanwhile, the MFCT yesterday signed an anti corruption pact known as "Conven-tion on Business Integrity (CBI)," with INTEGRITY, a Non-Governmental Organisation collaborating with Transparency in Nigeria (the Nigerian chapter of Transparency International) concerned with the issue of anti-corruption.
By entering into the pact, FCT becomes the first government institution to join the league of other private sector organisations and individuals governed by the principles of accountability, transparency and due process in their operation.
In the case of FCT, for example, contractors involved in contracts of N50 million and above would be required to pledge not to offer bribe to anybody to influence the process. Also, the FCT being the pilot ministry in the exercise is expected to show example, which the Minister, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, said has begun with the recent right-sizing through restructuring of the staff of the ministry.
The minister also revealed that other government agencies would be required to join the Convention. "We will not do it as a shock therapy. We will be piloting and others would join soon," he said.
Already, twelve organisations and four individuals preaching transparency and accountability in their undertakings are already members. These include Cadbury, Pfizer West Africa, Accenture, Agusto and co. Dunlop, Risk Watch and co. Prominent Securities, SAP AG, Lagos Business School among others.
Individual members committed to the same principles of transparency and accountability are Professor Pat Utomi, Dr. Christopher Kolade, Mr. Akintola Williams and Dr. Michael Omolayole.
According to Mr. Soji Apampa the Managing Director of SAP Nigeria Limited, "the Convention on Business Integrity seeks to fight corruption by providing alternatives to the system that has entrenched corruption."
"By belonging to the Convention, FCT and its contractors have pledged to "ensure that our policies and procedures are such as to enhance transparency and accountability, will not offer bribes or any other form of inducement to any official, whether public or private in connection with bids and businesses, will not permit any one to do that on their behalf, will in furtherance of this, issue a directive to all employees, agents and other representatives reminding them of their legal and professional duty not to demand or accept bribes of any description, and to remind them that to do so would constitute an offence against the laws of Nigeria which will be punished with the full force of the law.
"They will formally undertake to issue instructions to all its employees and agents or other representatives to inform the corporation of any corrupt practices taking place in the organisation, will ensure that only individuals with proven records of trustworthiness, truthfulness and integrity are employed in every sphere of its operation, will reward those employees, agents or its other representatives who show themselves to be upright in all their dealings with, for and on behalf of the organisation or corporation and finally, will cooperate with the law enforcement agencies to ensure that corrupt individuals in their establishment are brought to book and face the full force of the law," Apampa said.
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