NITDA denies employment racketeering media report

The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has denied the report in the media that its Director General, Dr. Isa Pantami is involved in employment racketeering.

An online news platform has reported that NITDA is currently enmeshed in an employment racketeering and that the Whistleblowers Group Nigeria (WGN) uncovered an unwholesome practices in NITDA, where proxy concealment of kickbacks of between 10 percent to 15 percent of agency’s contractors to secondment of over 25 staff of the agency to sister agencies, with the affected staff still drawing their pay from NITDA is taking place.

According to the report, the secondment of the affected staff, 90 percent of whom are from Bauchi and Gombe states, the home state of the DG, the majority of whom he shoddily recruited are being paid from NITDA account and absorbed without due process.

However, in a statement titled ‘Employment Racketeering Reports: Our Story’, the agency saddled with the responsibility of building IT capacity said the report is an attempt to discredit the achievements of Pantami since his appointment.

The statement sent to the media by Hadiza Umar (Mrs), the head, Corporate Affairs and External Relations noted that NITDA has not engaged any staff since Pantami’s appointment, rather it has been done on secondment, which are also approved by the relevant authority.

The statement reads: “NITDA 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.

“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 role 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 a previous administration were negotiated and reviewed downwards. A typical example is the e-Nigeria Conference where the Contractors brought down the cost by 10 percent and this was paid back to the account of the Federation. The negotiation saved money for government, not any individuals;
“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.”