The troubled Nigerian Institute of Medical Research (NIMR), Yaba, Lagos is in the news again as the entire complex of the apex medical research centre in the country was thrown into total blackout for two days last week when the Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC) disconnected power supply to the Institute on Thursday, November 26, 2015 for non-payment of its utility bills to EKEDC. The health research institution that is established to conduct research into diseases that are of public health importance is equivalent of the Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC), Atlanta, USA.
A source who pleaded anonymity in an interview with InfoTrust lamented that, “It is during the administration of Ujah that we started experiencing this challenge of incessant power disconnection by the Power Holding Company of Nigeria in NIMR. It is unthinkable that this is happening now in an institution of this stature.
“I wonder why they keep owing and can’t pay for the power we use here. The man is never around at the critical times. When he is not around, whoever that he chooses to act on his behalf is never given the authority to give any approval including money for payment of utility bills.
Another reliable source further revealed that, “This time that they (EKEDC) have disconnected power supply to NIMR, he (Ujah) was not around. I heard that he (Ujah) just arrived after many days of being away from office. Any time he is away like that, you will find several documents lying fallow on his table seeking attention and approval. Whoever that is acting is never allowed to treat any documents particularly if they have to do with money based on his directive. If the Director General is away for two weeks for example, those mails needing approvals regardless of their urgency will be kept on his table until he returns to office to treat them himself. I think the man (Ujah) should learn to practice the concept that is called delegation of power in public administration.”
Some others who spoke with InfoTrust attributed the problem to misplaced priorities by the Director General who they expected to be around to tackle emerging problems arising in the Institute particularly now that the institution is experiencing labour disputes between the management and staff. Unperturbed, the Director General was said to have been away to his village in Okpokwu local government area of Benue State for the 20th year remembrance anniversary of his late father for about a week before the disconnection.
He was said to have left NIMR with some senior and junior staff who are mainly his kinsmen in 3 vehicles belonging to the Institute (a Toyota Prado, a Toyota Hi-lux and a Toyota Hiace Hummer Bus) fuelled and maintained for the entire weekend of November 20-23, 2015 with NIMR fund despite the fact that the memorial event is not an official duty. The 3 vehicles were fuelled with NIMR money and so were the drivers of these vehicles paid allowances for the period they worked at the family event.
According to our investigation, Ujah returned to NIMR late afternoon of Monday November 23, 2015 but left again for Abuja early the next day, to return to the Institute three days later in the afternoon on Friday, November 27, 2015 a day after to disconnection.
It is recalled that the administration of Prof. Innocent Ujah from 2010 to date is alleged to be epitomised by corruption, nepotism, misappropriation of staff salaries and promotion arrears, fraudulent employment of workers and the distortion of staff nominal rolls to cover-up the fraudulent practices, gross impunity, autocracy and disregard for public service regulations for which the Director General and some of his allies have recently been under investigation by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
InfoTrust investigations reveal that the institute lacks electricity back-up for the staff quarters, most of its laboratories including the main laboratory complex as well as offices including those in the Administrative Block that accommodates the Director General’s office.
The main laboratory complex which can be adjudged as the soul of NIMR is a three-storey building that accommodates offices and laboratories for researchers and their support staff as well as multi-million naira worth of equipment where samples and reagents worth millions of naira are stored for research do not have electricity back up too. The Institute’s generator no long works for months adding up to more than a year now due to the fact that there is no diesel. Diesel suppliers are being owed millions of naira and have refused to make any further commitment to supply the product to power the generator any time there is cut in public power supply.
There are times without number when the Institute is without power for days (both day and night) thereby resulting in loss of valuable samples and reagents stored in refrigerators and freezers in the laboratories and lack of water supply to the laboratories and staff residential quarters. The lack of water resulting from power outage usually causes the numerous toilets in the laboratories and offices to stink due to no water to flush the water closets. For example, our source reported that “In August 2014 and March 2015, there was no electricity supply for more than 72 hours and one week respectively. Residents in the NIMR staff quarters had to resort to fetching water at the back of the laboratory complex which is located about 200 metres from the blocks of flats.”
InfoTrust reliably gathered that some residents in the staff quarters of NIMR made communal efforts to contribute money to buy diesel to run the generator in order to power the pumping machine to enable water supply during the March 2015 incident. Ujah, it was alleged vehemently stood his ground and stopped the communal initiative of the residents despite his non-commitment to ensuring that the Institute giant generator is powered to relief the pain of the residents.
A source said, “when it comes to access to electricity particularly when there is cut in public power supply by EKEDC, there are two worlds in NIMR. There a world in which the majority including many of the Institute’s Directors resident in the staff quarters are left in the dark and the other world is in the Director General quarters where a smaller generator fuelled at the expense of the Institute is always switched on to serve the residents consisting mainly of his kinsmen who are NIMR junior staff living there whether the Director General is around or not.
The source speaks further, “We gathered that Prof. Ujah gave the directive to the personnel in the electrical unit of the Maintenance Division that his quarters only should always be served electricity whether he (Ujah) is around or not without regard for significant others including his Directors living in the staff quarters.
InfoTrust visited the Institute for first hand information by witnessing a scenario of power outage and the authenticity of the lack of electricity back-up in NIMR and the idleness of the giant generator stationed behind the Human Virology Laboratory building extension in the NIMR compound.
A senior staff of the Institute speaking on this neglect said, “A right-thinking man with human feelings would be asking the question of what and how Prof. Ujah thinks and feels when he and his kinsmen are enjoying electricity while the other residents in 5 blocks of 6 flats are left in the dark with no power to use pump water for domestic use if not sheer wickedness and insensitivity. During the visit to NIMR last Thursday and Friday by InfoTrust, there was no electricity supply in the main laboratory complex, the Clinical Diagnostic laboratory, the TB Reference laboratory where TB samples from states across the country are sent for test and analysis, the Molecular and Biotechnology building, most offices in the Administrative block and the entire staff quarters. Many staff of these affected offices and laboratories were outside their offices as they could not bear the heat in the buildings because the cooling systems in the offices were not working due to the power outage.
Another staff standing outside her office in her reaction to this development told InfoTrust, “the non-use of the Institute’s giant generator for power supply has resulted in individuals to now acquire their personal generators of all kinds and sizes to power their flats. This has indirectly increased the noise level and air pollution in the environment. Another consequence of this is fire outbreak reported in one of the flats in Block B in April 2015 as the individual generator used by the flat occupants exploded and caused serious damage.
She lamented that, “whenever the whole Institute is in darkness, work is always at standstill, only the Human Virology Laboratory (HVL) and the ARV Clinic formerly supported by the PEPFAR/APIN Project as well as the office of the Director General and those of his allies, that includes the Director of Administration and Director of Finance and Accounts as well as the Deputy Director of Internal Audit Unit that enjoy power supply from the generators serving the HVL and the ARV Clinic.
“Of recent, the TB Reference Laboratory built and equipped with a generator with the support of an international organisation Sysmex Partec, famous for designing and producing diagnostic solutions for medical laboratories, can no longer sustain the use of the diesel-powered generator as there’s usually no money to buy diesel to run the generator despite the huge internally generated revenue of the institute. You can imagine that!” she said.
Speaking on the various corruption practices, she noted that the use of generator and purchase of diesel in NIMR has however been turned into means of siphoning public funds from NIMR. “News on the corruption practices in NIMR is on the website of Sahara Reporters, Saturday November 21, 2015. It showed that in the first quarter of 2015, about N4.5million was fraudulently withdrawn from NIMR funds in connivance with Dr. Oliver Ezechi, the Head of the Clinical Sciences Division with the claim of overhauling the power generating set that serve the PEPFAR/APIN Clinic.
“The brand new generator purchased is not up to the amount claimed to have been used in overhauling it and was even never serviced. The fraud was perpetrated by forging and raising fake quotations and receipts for items in this regard. There was also an incidence of a payment of N2 million made for the supply of diesel which was neither requested nor supplied”, she added.
Efforts to see the Director General during the visit proved abortive and several calls and text messages to his phone as at press time were not answered. Prior to now, similar efforts made when InfoTrust first break the news on Monday, September 28th, 2015 with the headline- ‘ICPC quizzes NIMR DG and others over 5yrs of corruption and mismanagement’ to also get the DG to speak on the development did not yield any positive result.
