Col. Mustapha Abdullah (Rtd.) in a mess?



The President and Commander – in – Chief,                                              18-09-2017
State House, Abuja,
Nigeria.
Dear Sir,
THE NDLEA IS SINKING UNDER AN INCOMPETENT LEADERSHIP
We the concerned officers of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have watched with dismay and consternation the extent, to which the agency has sunk since the appointment of Col. Mustapha Abdullah (Rtd.) as Chairman / Chief Executive in January, 2016.    
The appointment of Col. Abdullah (Rtd.) had rekindled hope of a new beginning amongst officers and men of the Agency on his in 2016. But the way things are going, Abdullah is just like an undertaker for the burial of the Agency.
Since January, 2016, when Abdullah took over the leadership mantle of NDLEA, he has not displayed a single shred of competence or leadership in the management of the affairs of the Agency. The following which are, verifiable facts, are among a litany of acts of incompetence, lack of strategy, mismanagement and even corruption on the part of the CCE:
        The Chairman has travelled out of the country on official assignments for about twenty- five times since assuming duty in January 2016 .Because of the financial state of the Agency, he borrows money most of the time to fund these trips and whenever money trickles in from Abuja, most of it goes in to repaying travel expenses estacodes for him and his entourage, while other pressing matters wait endlessly.

        In the whole of 2016, Directorates, States and Special Area Commands across the country received the sum of N200, 000 (Two hundred thousand Naira only) as operational/ running cost.

        So far in 2017, the seven Directorates, States and Special Area Commands have received operational/ running cost for only the months of January and February 2017.

        The Agency's National Headquarters in Lagos has been in complete darkness since August 2016 when PHCN disconnected power supply to the office complex. The contractor supplying diesel to the Agency had even before then stopped diesel supply over accumulated debts. As a result of this, the whole office complex has been in darkness since August, 2016.

        The management of the Agency is so disorganized that no one knows whether the Agency’s Headquarters is in Abuja or Lagos. This is because, while three (3) Directors operate from the so called new national Headquarters in Abuja, the Chairman/ CCE operates from the erstwhile Liaison office in the Federal Secretariat, Abuja while majority of the staff and the Agency’s registry are still in Lagos.

        The Chairman/ Chief Executive has not convened any management meeting with the Directors since he came on board. He has rather held informal meetings with the Directors on three occasions. That means no minutes of meeting were taken. For this reason, no policy has been discussed or any decision reached at management level since he assumed office. The implication has been no roadmap, no direction and no single achievement since taking over office.

        The sum of N34, 000, 000 (Thirty- four million Naira) received by the Agency for sports was used for purposes like travel without virement.

        The sum of N80, 000, 000 (Eighty million Naira) released to the Agency for relocation from Abuja Airport to Kaduna Airport and back to Abuja was mismanaged.

        The promotion of officers of various cadres which has been a nagging issue in the Agency has become more complicated, as the last promotion examination exercise was organized in 2013. The Chairman has turned down all entreaties to promote officers or restructure the Agency for effectiveness.

        This lack of tactical or strategic direction has affected the morale of the officers so badly that it has been a sad harvest of untimely death among the rank and file of the officers-- main cause of death is usually blood pressure related.
Under the prevailing situation, it is practically impossible for officers especially at the headquarters to carry out any administrative tasks as there is no light, no diesel/ petrol, no paper – NOTHING. The situation is so bad that officers come to the office and go home without doing anything day in day out. At the operational command level, the situation is even worse as the lack of funding has created a conducive environment for corruption to fester as the commands are busy rendering reports of arrests and seizures when they have received inadequate or no funding at all from the headquarters. The question then is how do they get the money to run operations? Your guess is as good as mine.
Sir, at the moment, the morale of the officers is at its lowest ebb because of the lack of a conducive environment to work, lack of motivation and lack of hope in the future of the Agency.
We use this forum to call on the President and Commander – in – Chief Justice to take urgent steps to save the NDLEA from imminent collapse by taking a closer look at its affairs with a view to effecting an immediate change in leadership in the Agency.

Signed by:                               JOHN PWAJOK (ACN)
                                                ABIMBOLA ADENIYI (ACN)
Col. Mustapha Abdullah (Rtd.) in a mess? Col. Mustapha Abdullah (Rtd.) in a mess? Reviewed by Unknown on Sunday, September 24, 2017 Rating: 5

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