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…Allegations of employment of over 80 Kogi state indigenes rock agency
From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
Anxiety currently pervades Presidential Amnesty Office following the alarm from Niger Delta indigenes that the Interim Administrator, Maj Gen BT Ndiomu (Retd) is planning to redeployed them from their positions to the ministry of Niger Delta.
It came on the heels of the allegations that the victims of the redeployment were linked with leakage of information on the activities of the leadership of the office.
The victims hinged their complaints on Ndiomu’s secret to redeploy them to the ministry and replace them with indigenes of of Kogi state they employed to take over their strategic positions.
They further revealed that those affected in the redeployment include Oloye Kebbi (Peace Building Department), Mr. Okhuba – (Peace Building), Kennedy Febau (Peace Building Unit), Ebiere Ayamah (Vocational Training Unit) and Jude Gbaboyor (Data/ICT).
They also alleged that while Jude was redeployed to Warri Delta State, others posted out include: Highcoast Ombe (Post Training Unit), Samuel Sunday (Post Training Unit), Pere Ikuetemi (Legal Dept), Gabriel Ajama (Data Unit) and Agiri Emmanuel, Head of Data who was moved to Agabagba in Ondo State.
The affected staff equally claimed that while the Niger Delta indigenes were sent back to the ministries and others sent out of Abuja, over 80 persons employed in the Amnesty Office recently are mostly from Kogi state.
Speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of victimisation, the workers said that Ndiomu had already authorised periodic seizure and search of the telephone of all members of staff of the office.
“There is general belief that telephones are bugged. We are pained that while the Niger Delta indigenes were sent back to the ministries and others sent out of Abuja, over 80 persons have been employed in the Amnesty Office recently, most of them from Kogi,” a source close to the affected staff lamented.
“The Head of Administration, Mrs Khairat Balogun is from Kogi state, Mrs Balogun, a staff of NTA was recently replaced with a new Head of Administration but she held back. The new Head of Administration deployed from the Office of the Head of Service, has been left without an office while the Human Resources component has been removed from the Admin Department and put under Mrs Balogun’s supervision.
“The affected Amnesty staff were removed with the claim by Ndiomu that his mission was to shut down the programme. Shortly before the end of the Buhari administration, the then National Security Adviser, Gen Monguno made moves to shut down the programme which was resisted by the leaders and people of the Niger Delta.
“When Ndiomu was appointed, he said he was at the PAP with a mandate to wind down the programme. The situation and tension in the region made it impossible for him to abruptly bring the programme to en end.
“There are serious concerns that the leadership style has adversely affected the Amnesty Office which has been relieved of some of its key roles in the region. Ndiomu has since stopped fresh deployment of students for the scholarship programme which endeared government to many in the region.
“Ndiomu also stopped the training or empowerment programmes of delegates in the region and has been embarking on selective payment for existing contracts.
Investigations further revealed that PAP under Ndiomu has entered into a contract with a Health Maintenance Organization (HMO), to pay monthly charges higher than the salaries of the affected workers.
“We gathered that under the contractual arrangement, the firm would be paid N250,000 per month. The N250,000 per month is made mandatory for all members of staff even when the salaries of most staff is not up to N250,000. The office has ventured into a contractual agreement with an HMO company.
“Going by the terms of the agreement, PAP pays N250,000 per month for each worker. Curiously, the staff salary is not up to N250,000 and it was made mandatory for all staff. We suspect that the cost is inflated to serve as conduit pipe for divertion of funds,” the source alleged.
