Dear President Bola Ahmed Tinubu,
CC:
The Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF)
The Minister of Agriculture & Rural Development
Sir,
OPEN LETTER OF PROTEST
REVERSE THE RE-APPOINTMENT OF DR. VINCENT ISEGBE AS DIRECTOR GENERAL OF NIGERIA AGRICULTURAL QUARANTINE SERVICE
I woke up to the cheerless news of Dr. Vincent Isegbe’s re-appointment as the Director General (DG) of the Nigeria Agricultural Quarantine Service ( NAQS), to serve for a fresh term of five years in the Nigeria Agricultural Quarantine Service, having previously held the said office for a period of nine (9) years as DG of the Agency.
I am constrained to think that the renewed-hope mantra of Your Excellency is synonymous with either renewed impunity or renewed hopelessness. Otherwise, why would a public servant, who had spent nine (9) years as Director General in a government agency with grossly unimpressive record of abuse of office and corruption allegations, be considered fit for re-appointment even after he exited office following the expiration of his tenure as DG.
Curiously, as a citizen of Nigeria, I demand to know what becomes the fate of the next most senior officer in the agency who was appointed as Director General in acting capacity and had been holding sway in that capacity till Dr. Vincent Isegbe’s re-appointment?
Would the acting DG now be asked to vacate the office for Dr. Vincent to re-assume the position of DG?
What is the encouragement for other officers who work and hope for career progression?
Will such officers grow and retire from service while Dr. Vincent Isegbe continues as Director General in perpetuity ?
How would the agency experience innovation or take advantage of fresh ideas from officers who have spent several years of service in the system, acquiring various trainings as public servants?
Has the office of the Director General NAQS become the birth right of Dr. Vincent Isegbe?
This re-appointment is certainly not a good example of an administration that chants ‘renewed hope,’ because the hope of the teeming junior officers in NAQS who have invested their years expecting to grow to the highest position will be cut short if Dr. Vincent Isegbe’s re-appointment is allowed to stand.
I wonder what motivated Dr. Vincent Isegbe’s re-appointment as the Director General of NAQS, considering that he ought to have retired three years ago as a civil servant under the Civil Service Rules having been employed in 1989, or he should be answering questions in various anti-graft agencies over several petitions filed against him by civil societies which borders on allegations of corruption and abuse of office.
Unless Your Excellency is bent on making appointments that serve the interests of minority of cabals in government, Mr. President should reverse the appointment of Dr. Vincent Isegbe forthwith, and confirm the Acting Director General as substantive DG in order to encourage productivity, career progression and transparency in government.
TAKE NOTICE that in the event of failure to reverse Dr. Vincent Isegbe’s re-appointment within seven (7) days, I and other patroitic Nigerians shall be constrained to approach the court to question the legality or otherwise of the aforesaid appointment.
Yours faithfully,
Maduabuchi .O. Idam, Esq.
PP. M.O. Idam Attorneys.
