Succession battle heats up in NOA, NFVCB, others under Information Ministry

 

By Saidu Idris

 

There is apprehension, uncertainty and fear among the leadership of the culture agencies under the Ministry of Information and Culture, as their chief executives jostle to retain their positions, 365Daily has learnt.

The four-year renewable tenure of the agencies expires this month.

The affected agencies include the National Orientation Agency (NOA), National Films and Video Censors Board (NFVCB), National Council for Arts and Culture (NCAC) and Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC).

Unless President Muhammadu Buhari reappoints the heads of those agencies, there would be obvious vacancies at the end of this month in all of them, apart from the NOA, where the tenure of the current Director-General, would expire in May 2021.

365Daily gathered that some powerful interests in the Presidency are bent on denying the head of those agencies reappointments, as they are desirous of filling the soon to be available spaces with their preferred candidates.

Although the Director-General of NOA, Dr. Garba Abari, 365Daily gathered, has been telling people around him that he doesn’t want to retain his office beyond May, sources said he was just being discreet with his true desire to remain his office, as it was alleged that he was in the Presidential Villa last week to lobby the Chief of Staff to the President, Prof. Ibrahim Gambari, over the same matter.

His tenure in NOA, many said, has been lacklustre, uninspiring and underwhelming.

NOA, since the life of the current administration, according to public perception, has not lived up to expectations in the areas of its core responsibilities, especially now that the nation is witnessing grave divisiveness and mutual distrust amongst its diverse groups and interests.

The NOA’s core objective is to communicate government policy, stay abreast of public opinion, and promote patriotism, national unity, and development of Nigerian society.

The agency’s failure in these areas, could partly be attributed to the overbearing attitude of the supervising Minister, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, who has been accused of micromanaging the agencies under him,365Daily was told.

For the National Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB), it was gathered that the Executive Director, Adedayo Thomas, is very desperate to be reappointed and is alleged to be “spending heavily” in order to achieve that.

Thomas is said to have his eye on the governorship seat of his state, Lagos, come 2023 and thus, would want to remain in office as NFVCB boss, from where he intends to launch his political career.

But whether his alleged Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) case, as reported by 365Daily in November 2020, would not mar his chances of reappointment, is yet to be seen.

He is also said to be under the radar of the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB), for alleged breach of the agency’s laws.

Thomas, a Journalist and Economic Rights Advocate, was appointed on March 30, 2017 by President Buhari as Executive Director of the agency.

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