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The Federal Government has retute the allegation of ongoing employment at the National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA).
The Overseeing Director General of NABDA, Pharm. Abayomi Oguntunde refute the allegation in a statement issued in Abuja on wednesday in response to what he referred to as False Allegations against the Leadership of the National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA) by purported civil Society groups under the names: “Civil Society Advocacy Groups for Accountability, and Probity and Independent Public Service Watch”.
He described the allegation of on-going secret employment is laughable and said “With the 2017 budget fully expended by the former Director General, Lucy Ogbadu and the 2018 budget yet to be released, where will the money to pay salaries of the so- called newly recruited staff come from?
“Though the Agency has provision in the 2018 budget to create three new Bioresources Development Centres (BioDeCs) and as such would need staff to Mann the Centres, employment of those staff would be subject to release of budget 2018,and you can be rest assured that strict adherence to due process will be followed and of course the newly inaugurated Board for the Agency is on ground to oversee the process”, Oguntunde says.
Abayomi Oguntunde is the overseeing Director- General (ODG) of the National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA) pending the appointment of a substantive Director- General for the Agency. Before this time, he had been the Director of Bioresources Department of the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology and supervising Director of NABDA.
Pharm. Oguntunde said inspite of the fact that on his resumption as ODG NABDA, on the 8th of January, 2018, he met an Agency whose capital budget of 2017 had been expended in award of contracts, and made no attempt to cancel the contracts or re-award them but approved the release of funds for the execution of all projects as initiated by the former DG, with verifiable evidence at the agency.
Condemning people who hide under the cloak of civil society to peddle lies and mischief; Oguntunde advised that rather than engage in cheap blackmail and false allegations, journalists should feel free to walk up to NABDA to investigate any matter and allegation of concern.
He urged the press to always verify the authenticity and factuality of every information before publishing.
Oyin Aminu, Abuja
