Employees of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) are quarelling with their Director-General, Dr Paul Orhii. The Nation gathered that the kernel of their grouse is the spending of N25 million on Christmas party when most of the workers’ vital allowances were yet to be paid. As of the time of filing this report, the allowances in question are yet to be paid.
Investigations revealed that the Christmas party, which took place at the premises of the organisation at Oshodi, Lagos, on December 13, last year, generated controversies as majority of the workers who kicked against the party argued that if some of the mandatory allowances of the workers were yet to be paid, it was unwise to spend such a huge amount on a Christmas party that lasted for only four hours. Of particular interest to these aggrieved workers is the 13th month allowance, which NAFDAC is yet to pay. Therefore, to register their annoyance, it was gathered that leadership of the Medical and Health Workers Union of Nigeria (MHWUN), NAFDAC branch, sent a message to members to boycott the party as a sign of protest.
Against this backdrop, majority of the workers was said to have boycotted the party, which was organised by the agency.
Insiders also said the initial budget for the party was N16 million before it was raised to N25 million, a situation which the workers’ union saw as a reckless spending at the expense of the workers’ legitimate entitlements.
It was gathered that the agency has been paying its employees 13th month allowances since the days of the former DG, Prof. Dora Akunyili. She was said to have introduced the package to motivate the workers since most of them are sometimes called to duty at odd hours of the day. “Instead of paying the money in full, it was staggered and some people are not yet paid as l am speaking to you,” lamented a worker who pleaded not to be named.
It was equally alleged that the Human Resources department engaged the services of a popular gospel musician based in Ibadan and her daughter as musicians who played at the party and they collected millions of naira for their short services. Immediately after the party, the head of the department was said to have travelled outside the country for two weeks to enjoy herself whereas “majority were denied relevant and professional training by the same Mrs. Oni,” a member of staff of the Agency in Abuja lamented.
Besides, MHWUN also accused the DG of being insensitive to the plight of its members, particularly their welfare as he claimed that the NAFDAC officials were been paid with Research and Allied Institute Salary Structure (CONRAISS), instead of Consolidated Health Salary Structure (CONHESS). The former salary structure is for researchers, while the latter is for health workers, which NAFDAC employees claimed they are. The latter salary structure, the workers insisted, was what was in use during days of Dr. Akunyili. By adopting CONRAISS, there was some substantial reduction in salary of each worker ranging from N20, 000 to N80, 000, depending on the grade level and steps.
Another contentious issue that is creating a gulf between the DG and the workers was the non-chalant attitude of the Human Resources department to the union’s demand.
“The head of the department blocked all form of communication channel between the union and the DG,” said another member of staff of the agency.
The Nation learnt that when all efforts to have a dialogue with the DG on the plight of the workers failed, MHWUN decided to seek audience with the NAFDAC’s Governing Council chairman, Prof. John Ibu Igede, who later scheduled a meeting with the union and the Ad-hoc Committee of the council at the conference room at the agency’s corporate headquarters in Abuja on January 13.
The meeting, which was said to be stormy, opened a can of worms regarding all the grievances which the workers have against the management. At the meeting, the union presented a nine-page document that summarised all the workers’ grievances. In the document, the union frowned at the agency’s failure to pay the first 28 days allowances for newly employed members of staff, which has been denied to those employed in 2009 and 2012, selective staff training to “some favoured staffers why others were neglected.” “Workshops, seminars and conferences of local and international status are not distributed on nominal roll and there is no fair share in its attendance,” the union further complained. Other complaints include poor handling of staff claims which has been “reduced to whom you know and which button you can press before you get what belongs to you as a right.”
Also in contention is the good manufacturing practice (GMP) for overseas training which the union said is no longer given to staff before embarking on the trip, while workers now pay for their visa fees at the embassies, even though refunding could take between 6-8 months after the trip. Some staffers have also gone on training locally without financial backings by the management, a practice the union leadership insisted is putting the agency into disrepute.
The union is also unhappy with the management because most of the technologists who have acquired additional certificates in the agency were not converted to regulatory officers and that the yearly long service/merit awards which ought to take place at the end of the year party has become selective and all those that are supposed to benefit were often excluded. “The Director Admin/HR, Mrs. Oni, used her power to remove Long Service Award from this year’s award ceremony despite the agreement and approval of the DG, NAFDAC with the Union,” the document said.
The Chairman of MHWUN Comrade Ibrahim Isah, in a telephone chat with The Nation, noted that the union channeled the workers’ grievances to the Governing Council of the agency with the hope that something favourable would come out of the deliberation.
However, speaking about the cold war between the workers and the DG, a top management staff who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the genesis of the crisis in the agency is traceable to the Directorate of Administration and Human Resources of the agency for not taking as a priority the welfare of the staff despite the fact that it generates close to N600million monthly. According to him, in most cases, the Directorate allegedly did not brief the DG the true picture of the situation on the ground, unlike during the period of the former DG.
“Prof. Dora Akunyili always fought for the welfare of the staff and she initiated some of these allowances that the management are now finding difficult to pay. If the internally generated revenue accruing to the agency every month is anything to go by, the agency has no basis not to meet up with the staff welfare demand.
“Take for instance, the GMP allowance. This is a payment that the (drug) manufacturers outside the country are paying for inspection; this is not NAFDAC money and it has accrued to a substantial amount of millions of naira over the years? Why is it difficult for the management to pay the allowances of those they are sending out for inspections? Why is it that some are using their personal money to embark on the trip? Where did they get such money? These are the salient issues which the DG should urgently address,” he asked.
When this reporter visited the NAFDAC office at Oshodi to speak to the DG, he met a brick wall; he was told that the NAFDAC boss was in a crucial strategic management meeting and cannot talk. However, the Director of Communication of the Agency, Alhaji Abubakar Jimoh said all the allegations against the DG was a figment of the imagination of those who have nothing to do but to spread unnecessary rumour round the agency.
“The 13th month allowance was just largesse and a special privilege, but not mandatory. Since NAFDAC started, it has been a tradition. We have religiously kept to it and made sure that it is paid. Going by the numerical strength of the staff of NAFDAC, what we did was that in that cognisance and the rising challenges, like provision of infrastructural amenities that have to compete with the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR). We are not funded by the government, so we rely on the IGR. To that extent, it was staggered so that other sectors will not suffer. As l speak to you now, the 13th month salary which is an incentive and a privilege is being paid,” Jimoh said.
According to NAFDAC spokesman, the union was taken into confidence when the payment of allowance was staggered. “Therefore, there is nothing unusual about it. The onus is on us to protect the public health; the issue of 13th month allowances is secondary,” he explained.
He also added that what is happening in the agency has a lot of political colouration, noting that it was an extension of the politics of second term (for the sitting DG) and that all the allegations lacked merit and substance.
“That means it has a lot of political undertone and the agency cannot be distracted from the clear mandate Mr. President has given the Director General. We cannot be distracted; the management is ready to key into the transformation agenda and we have a blue print that will make the agency to get to the next level of its assignment in the next five years.
“What you are talking about is the hangover of the second term politics that failed. Those mischievous people who wanted to use it as a big issue to stop the second coming of the DG have failed. This is a presidential proclamation and endorsement. I am dismissing all this allegation and rumour with a wave of the hand because it is a hangover of the second term politics and l think it ought to have ended now with the second coming of the DG,” he said.
Jimoh explained that the DG has a lot of other welfare packages for the staff which will come into reality any moment from now.
“I also want to tell you that there are other packages that have been worked out for the staff welfare. International and capacity training is also there which a lot of money will go into. We are saying that we cannot leave that at the detriment of the 13th month allowance. We make sure that everything is balanced.”
Will the agency allow the issue to degenerate? Only time will tell.
Source: The Nation
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