Group threatens court action against NTI DG over alleged maladministration

A group, Zazzau Indigenes Progressive Association (ZIPA), has threatened legal action against the Director-General of National Teachers Institute (NTI), Prof. Musa-Garba Maitafsiri, over alleged maladministration.

The association’s Chairman, Ibrahim Ahmed disclosed this on Monday in Abuja while speaking to journalists. He said the action to challenge the alleged dictatorial style of the DG in running the affairs of the institute, and seek justice over the unlawful removal of the acting Registrar, Malam Ibrahim Hamid, among others.

“The registrar was removed unjustly, because of the selfish need to install one Fatima Abbas Jega as Registrar.

“We have written a petition to the Minister of Education and copied the Minister of State, the Head of Service of the Federation, and anti-corruption agencies, among others over the destructive administrative style of the director-general,’’ Ahmed said.

According to him, Hamid was appointed by the Governing Council of the institute on Aug. 9, 2021 as Acting Registrar and worked to the satisfaction of the entire staff when he suddenly removed.

“Suddenly on Jan. 12, 2023, the DG wrote a letter signed by his self-appointed acting Registrar, Fatima Jega asking Hamid to proceed on indefinite leave over a petition written against the management of the institute by a Deputy Registrar, Mr Obioha Ogunbuka.

“Ogunbuka’s petition was against the appointment of Hamid by the governing council, and since then Hamid has been on indefinite leave even before the investigation of the petition. He has been left with no details about his status in the institute.

“We reliably gathered that a committee was later set up to look into the petition and all the parties involved appeared and the committee found Hamid not guilty of any issue,” the chairman stated.

Ahmed wondered where the DG derived the power to send a registrar on indefinite leave before investigation. According to him, there’s no provision for ‘indefinite leave’ in the Civil Service Rules, or having two acting Registrars in an institution.

“As a lawyer, I know what it means by justice, Hamid is being treated badly, he was sentenced before trial, the DG meted punishment on him unjustly.

“We will go to court and demand for the immediate reinstatement of Hamid as acting registrar, but this will be done only if we exhaust all administrative options to get him reinstated,” he added.

Ahmed also said that the association had facts on the illegal reinstatement of a dismissed staff, and noncompliance to the directive of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation on eight years’ service for Directors.

“As citizens of Nigeria, we are also interested in getting facts about allegations of inflated contracts and collapse of NTI post graduate Diploma and NCE programmes,’’ the ZIPA chairman noted.

According to him, ZIPA is at the vanguard of promoting harmonious relationships between the community and institutions in Zazzau Emirate.

“As such we cannot fold our arms and watch the destruction of this great historic institution,’’ Ahmed added, and appealed to the minister of education to investigate the matter. In his reaction, the director-general dismissed all the allegations as fabricated and false.

According to him, the acting registrar was removed on the directive of former minister of state, education, after Ogunbuka’s petition.

“The then Minister of State, Mr Goodluck Nanah-Opiah, wrote a letter directing us to suspend the acting registrar and the deputy registrar pending the outcome of an investigation.

“After the investigation, the committee recommended that both of them should be dismissed,’’ he noted, adding that it was because of his intervention that the committee reviewed their punishment, and the two were moved out of the institute’s headquarters.

He explained that the acting registrar and his deputy had been at loggerheads, writing petitions against each other for years. Maitafsir also denied any wrong doing in the award of contracts or compliance with civil service rules.

NEWS AGENCY OF NIGERIA