Ridding NEMA of staff-turned contractors By Emeka Oraetoka

In the last one year, events in National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) appear to suggest that the agency is populated mainly with contractors masquerading as civil servants.
This writer is not however, saying that patriotic civil servants are not in the agency.
In fact, bad eggs in the agency that want the establishment to continue with business as usual constitute a clog in the wheel of progress of NEMA.
It is no more news that verification of claims by civil servants and contractors carried out by Engineer Mustapha Maihaja, upon resumption of office about a year ago, exposed the evil character of some civil servants and their collaborators in the agency.
The verification showed that civil servants were demanding to be paid huge sums of allowances, etc.
Based on recent story, even contractors liability could as well go to the civil servants as the contractors.
It could be recalled that the DG of NEMA inherited N2.9 billion.
The reports further said that civil servants were demanding as much as N58 million as Duty Tour Allowance (DTA).
The DG even promised to pay genuine claims after verification; this did not go down well with contractors/ civil servants in the agency.
In order to hit back at the DG, they instigated strike to portray the DG as insensitive to the plight of workers.
However, the Maihaja led- management was able to bring sanity in the agency, by building confidence.
An understanding of genesis of strike in NEMA under Engineer Mustapha Maihaja is better appreciated via the report by Sun newspaper of JUNE 10, 2017, captioned; NEMA staff threaten strike over N665m liabilities.
It said the management of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) is in a quandary over threats by the staff to embark on industrial action over alleged refusal to settle N665 million liabilities.
The new management also has to contend with staff over redeployment of a top union member as well as about N2.8 billion liabilities, including the N655 million outstanding claims by some staff.
But, while workers are demanding wholesale payment of the debt, management is insisting on verification of the claims.
On his part, NEMA Director-General, Mustapha Maihaja, admitted inheriting about N2.8 billion, including the N665 million unverified staff claims.
“I inherited liabilities and to all intents and purposes, a chief executive ought to verify all claims which were not paid before he resumed.
I am doing exactly that.
I have not owed workers salaries since I came on board.
Also, I have been paying all the claims of workers of NEMA as and when due, since I resumed in April 2017.
I am not anti-labour but, I am insisting on due process, to verify outstanding claims which I inherited.
Nigerians can clearly see that the case of NEMA is a titanic fight between a reformer and an established corrupt civil service cabal bent on destroying the agency.
But this situation is not surprising; a situation where a level 8 civil servant is demanding N14 million as DTA, what do you expect? In furtherance of repositioning the agency, NEMA management appeared to have busted a ring of established civil servants/contractors cartel in the agency.
According to report, dubious civil servants were busy enjoying themselves at the expense of displaced innocent Nigerians in IDP camps by siphoning the funds meant for their wellbeing.
Clearly, the mind boggling revelation shows that before Engineer Maihaja took over as the DG, NEMA was cesspool of corruption, actively superintended by civil servants.
From the way and manner the indicted civil servants are fighting, it appears they are well organized with a lot of resources at their disposal.
First, they misled the National Assembly into believing that due process was not followed in the award of contracts meant to take care of those affected by flood across the country in 2017.
They skillfully presented their case to make it look as if they were being victimized because they insisted that due process should be followed in contract award.
Secondly, they enlisted the support of equally corrupt media to feed the public with fake news on happenings in NEMA under Maihaja’s leadership.
It is very clear that these contractors/civil servants constitute great danger to NEMA humanitarian work.
The popular saying that the love of money is the root of all evil is apt here.
Perhaps, we should just add that the love of “blood money” was the root of evil in NEMA.
The imperative of purging NEMA of these undesirable elements cannot be overemphasized.
We know that mankind cannot prevent natural disaster from occurring in our society; what about manmade disaster? What guarantee do we have, if we continue to harbor murderous civil servants in NEMA and expect venerable people to be safe in the country? The time for government to act on the indicted civil servants is now.
The agency must be rid of bad egg; who are obviously not happy that sanity is returning to the agency.
Also, to bring an end to obviously politically motivated strikes in the agency, the indicted civil servants must not only be dismissed, if found guilty, they must pay for their heinous crime to serve as deterrent to others.
Oraetoka, information management consultant and researcher, writes from Garki, Abuja.
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