The National Centre for Technology Management (NACETEM) has urged President Bola Tinubu to investigate the appointment of its new Director-General, Olusola Odusanya, by the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari.
The appointment of Odusanya by Buhari in the last minute of his administration has drawn the Ire of stakeholders.
NACETEM Governing Council in a statement signed by its Chairman, Haastrup Olatunji, kicked against Odusanya’s appointment, saying it did not follow due process and that the council was not consulted as required by law.
The Council further noted that Odusanya’s appointment was “a concoction” of former Minister of State for Science, Technology and Innovation, Henry Ikechukwu Ikoh.
The statement reads in part: “Our attention has been drawn to the purported appointment of one Dr. Olusola Odusanya as the Director-General/Chief Executive Officer of the National Centre for Technology Management (NACETEM) on the pages of many national dailies. This is misleading as the legally constituted Governing Board of the agency never interviewed the ‘appointed’ DG or had any interaction with him at any time.
“As a result of our stance not to compromise due process, Ikoh set up a parallel committee to select DG for NACETEM. We wrote letters to all known constituted authorities to admonish on the implications of the minister’s actions. Despite all our efforts to make reason prevail, he went ahead with his plan. The illegal parallel process instituted by Chief Henry Ikoh to appoint Odusanya attracted litigation by a public interest lawyer and all entreaties to make him stay action because of the court case fell on deaf ears, as he eventually released letter of appointment to Odusanya.
“To put the records straight and educate the public properly, we will like to say that NACETEM Governing Board is not a party to the appointment of Dr. Olusola Odusanya. His appointment did not follow due process.
The Council, however, called on President Bola Tinubu to investigate circumstances leading to Odusanya’s last minute appointment, saying: “While we assure NACETEM members of staff that we will deploy all known legal means to uphold peace and progress of the agency, we call on the new President, Bola Tinubu, to probe the circumstances leading to the last minute ‘appointment ‘ of Odusanya without recourse to due process.”
