The atmosphere at the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research (NIMR), Yaba, Lagos was frenzy in the morning of Friday, July 29 2016 when the news about the sack of the Director General, Prof. Innocent Ujah filtered into the Institute. The workers in their multitude went into ecstatic jubilation chanting victory and praise songs while they went on a procession round the Institute’s complex. Federal Government sacked Ujah alongside other four Chief Executives of strategic agencies under the Federal Ministry of Health. The concerned executives were informed by the Health Ministry on Thursday, July 28, 2016 via a letter from the Presidency.
The sack of Ujah by the Buhari-led Federal Government according to reliable source did not come to many as a surprise as it is long overdue. InfoTrust reliably gathered from some of the workers that his sack is not unconnected with numerous allegations of gross administrative and financial misconducts against him.
In the last one year, Ujah has been dogged by allegations of corruption, nepotism, misappropriation of staff emoluments, fraudulent employment of workers without due process and the distortion of staff nominal rolls to cover-up the fraudulent practices, gross impunity, autocracy and disregard for public service regulations in his 6 years in office as the NIMR Director General. Ujah and some key Directors (Administration and Finance and Accounts) of the Institute have since been under the scrutiny of both the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC).
Some workers interviewed by InfoTrust correspondent expressed their happiness over the sack of Ujah. A worker for example stated that “His (Ujah) tenure is the worst in the history of this institution. He has virtually destroyed NIMR. The Institute used to have funds in excess. On the contrary, the Institute is presently in debt of a colossal amount of money owed contractors and even staff. This has never been the case here before his coming.”
Another worker responded with her joy knowing no bounds “…we’re really happy for this development and give thanks to God Almighty for the change in Nigeria and now at NIMR. We’ve never had it so bad here. I’m happy. Can you imagine the employing his son who graduated as a Zoologist and is on national service to work in his office as a Special Assistant to the Director General on Music and Entertainment. It’s funny. That’s what I regard as a gross abuse of office.”
Prof. Ujah was reported to have recently boasted of spending his last two years in office for consolidation and moving the Institute’s headquarters from Lagos to Abuja at a ceremony marking his sixth year anniversary in office on Tuesday July 12, 2016 not knowing the calamity that is to befall him a few days later. A worker explained that , “Ujah demonstrated his usual arrogance or is it ignorance during his sixth year anniversary ceremony of the Federal Government’s recent suspension of tenureship for Directors, and heads of government agencies boasting of another two years in office.” The workers admonished the Federal Government for its zero tolerance for corruption and to ensure that Ujah and other Directors still in service are prosecuted in the court if found guilty of the allegations following investigations by the EFCC and ICPC.
President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the appointment of Prof. Babatunde Lawal Salako as the new Director General of the NIMR. Until his new appointment, Prof. Salako was the Provost, College of Medicine at the University of Ibadan, Ibadan. Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) Ibadan, Medicine & Surgery/ Kidney Transplantation,1981 – 1986. He has been involved in research and training both at the undergraduate and post-graduate levels and has expertise in the area of hypertension and nephrology. He is the Vice President, President Elect of Nigerian Association of Nephroogy
