Furore Over Tenure Extension Plot For Paramilitary Chiefs

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*Petition calls for probe of NDLEA

There is disquiet in the Ministry of Interior over alleged plans
to grant a third tenure extension for heads of paramilitary
agencies.

The agencies include the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS), the
Nigerian Correctional Service (CoS) and the Nigerian Security and
Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC).

The tenures of the trio of Mohammed Babandede (NIS), Abdullahi
Muhammadu Gana (NSCDC) and Jafaru Ahmed (NCoS) expired between 2019
and 2020.

This is coming as stakeholders including retired and serving
officers warned that incessant tenure extension of paramilitary
service chiefs was counter-productive and hinders career
progression.

The warning also comes as Concerned Officers of the National
Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) called on President Muhammadu
Buhari to investigate and prosecute the Chairman of NDLEA, Col
Muhammad Abdallah (rtd), for the alleged diversion of N2.8 billion
commanders’ monthly allowances and the revocation of the sale of
the Chairman’s official quarters in Ikoyi that he allegedly
sold.

In a petition obtained by THISDAY, the officers also called on
the president to appoint a competent chairman that would redirect
the agency on the path of greatness and address the lingering
problem of increasing drug abuse, poor staff welfare and delayed
promotion in the agency as Col. Abdallah’s tenure expires this
week.

The heads of the paramilitary organisations had exceeded the
mandatory age limit and number of years of service and had their
tenures extended last year by the Minister of Interior, Rauf
Aregbesola, who is also Chairman of the Civil Defence,
Correctional, Fire and Immigration Services Board (CDCFIB).

The minister had endorsed the extension of tenures of the
Controller-General of Nigeria Correctional Service (NCoS), Jaafaru
Ahmed; the Commandant-General, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence
Corps (NSCDC), Abdullahi Muhammadu Gana and the Comptroller-General
of Immigration, Muhammad Babandede.

Ahmed, Gana and Babandede had their already elapsed tenures
extended for six months, last year.

The tenure of the NCoS boss, Jafaru Ahmed, was initially
extended by President Buhari for one year from July 21, 2019 to
July 21, 2020 due to his track record of pioneering innovative
reforms in the prison service.

Ahmed, who clocked 60 years of age in 2019 and mandatory 35
years in service in 2020, later had his tenure extended a second
time by Aregbesola for an additional six months to consolidate and
implement some key programmes and policies, especially on human
rights compliance, infrastructural development and welfare of staff
and inmates.

Ahmed was appointed Comptroller-General, on May 17, 2016. The
NSCDC boss, Muhammadu Gana, was appointed as the second substantive
Commandant–General of NSCDC in July 2015, by President Buhari.

His tenure expired in July 2020, and was granted a six-month
extension, which will end this January 2021.

On his part, Babandede, the Comptroller-General of NIS, is
currently the longest-serving top officer of the agency, after
joining the service in June 1985, and has spent 35 years in
service. He hails from Jigawa State.

PRNigeria gathered that Aregbesola, who has the final say on the
expired but extended tenures of the NIS, NCoS and NSCDC bosses,
being the Chairman of CDCFIB is believed to be planning to
recommend a further extension of the tenures of the officers.

Meanwhile, some concerned retired and serving officers, as well
as stakeholders in the sector, who spoke on the condition of
anonymity, expressed concerns over what they described as
“detrimental policy of tenure elongation” for heads of paramilitary
agencies.

Some of them expressed the fear that the practice of extending
the tenure of any public officer was counterproductive,
demoralising and detrimental to the career progression of officers
in public service and could set bad precedents with dangerous
consequences.

A retired immigration officer and human rights lawyer, Daniel
Makolo, last year in a petition pointed out that the Minister of
Interior lacked the power to extend the tenure of Babandede,
Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS).

In a letter addressed to the minister, who was former Governor
of Osun State, Makolo said the CDFIPB chaired by Aregbesola had no
legal power “to recommend or extend the statutory tenure of any
public servant in the same capacity, no matter and however
industrious such officer may be.”

He said the public service is statutorily designed with specific
provisions for entry and exit lawfully and that once a tenure comes
to an end, a further stay in the office is arbitrary, immoral,
wrongful and unlawful.

“The practice of arbitrary, illegal elongation of the statutory
tenure of public office occupants sets a dangerous precedent for
bureaucracy and national security.”

Meanwhile, some concerned officers at the NDLEA have called on
President Buhari to investigate and prosecute of Chairman of NDLEA,
Col Mohammed Abdallah (rtd) over the alleged diversion of N2.8
billion commanders’ monthly allowances and the revocation of the
sale of the Chairman’s official quarters in Ikoyi that he allegedly
sold.

They also called on the president to appoint a competent
chairman that would redirect the agency on the path to greatness
and address the lingering problem of increasing drug abuse, poor
staff welfare and delayed promotion in the agency as Abdallah’s
tenure expires this week.

In a letter to the president by the concerned officers, of the
agency signed by one Musa Ahmed Yusuf, the officers accused the
outgoing NDLEA boss of diverting N2.8 billion monthly operational
allowances for commanders.

“Since 2016 that Abdallah took over, he stopped the payment of
monthly running cost to commanders. This has continued all through
his tenure.

“The monthly allocation of the agency of about N48 million is
used to service Abdallah’s personal interest. This has amounted to
the sum of N2.8 billion in the past five years”, the petition
alleged.

“How are the commands meeting their needs and how do you define
corruption? Abdallah also sold the official quarters for the
chairman of the agency located at George Street Ikoyi, Lagos.

“He also allowed a telecommunication service provider to install
a telecom station at the once vibrant Ikoyi office that is now a
shadow of itself. The impunity of Abdallah must not go unpunished”,
it further alleged.

The petition further called for the appointment of “a competent
chairman appointed to correct the many mistakes of Abdallah and
take the agency to greater heights following the expiration of
Abdallah’s tenure.

“We demand a complete investigation into the unending
recruitment exercise by Abdallah even when money has been released
to him since 2019. Non of the procedures have followed due process.
The entire exercise must be conducted by a competent leader. This
will ensure that Nigerians have a level playing ground in serving
their country”.

It also cited the refusal of the NDLEA leadership to promote
staff as and when due in addition to his lack of attention to
hightened drug abuse crisis in the country.

“Abdallah refused to release our promotion arrears. This has
dampened our morale. The most painful aspect is the fact that our
colleagues that retired in the last five years left service with
lower ranks than they are entitled to because of Abdallah’s
administrative callousness. This injustice is demoralising to the
entire workforce”, the group said.

The petition said a national survey confirmed a massive scale of
Nigeria”s drug problem with no effort by Abdallah to reverse the
ugly trend. “According to the report, in 2017 just one year after
Abdallah took over office, nearly 15% of the adult population in
Nigeria (around 14.3 million people) reported a “considerable
level” of use of psychoactive drug substances. This is a rate much
higher than the 2016 global average of 5.6% among adults.

“The survey was led by Nigeria’s National Bureau of Statistics
(NBS) and the Center for Research and Information on Substance
Abuse with technical support from the United Nations Office on
Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and funding from the European Union.

“Our airports, seaports and land borders are becoming
increasingly porous by the day as Abdallah remains
unperturbed.”