From positive reports oozing out of the National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA) in the last seven months, the acting Director General/CEO of the agency which is Obasanjo Space Centre’s next-door neighbour along the Musa Yar’Adua Expressway at Lugbe in Abuja, Professor Alex Akpa, may turn out to be the poster boy of the campaign that the Federal Government should always look inwards whenever the need to appoint DGs for research institutes arises.

Coming into office on Friday, 1st of June last year, Akpa inherited an agency which was in a state of armed peace with different camps and factions while staff morale was at its lowest ebb. It was a situation where among the staff, no one seemed to know where his or her neighbour belonged. When he took over the mantle of leadership, fear gripped a cross-section of the personnel, fearing he might embark on vengeance mission over the fireworks that prevailed before and immediately after his appointment.

However, as a “true father,” as the immediate past chairman of the agency’s branch of the Academic Staff Union of Research Institutions (ASURI), Comrade (Dr.) Adebanjo Otitoju, described him during a one-day conference held for the Executive Committee members of ASURI at the Bioresources Development Centres (BIODEC) of the agency at its corporate headquarters in Abuja mid-December 2018, he hit the ground running, calling NABDA’s first-ever village square meeting where everyone was given the opportunity of rubbing minds, a move which diffused much of the tension on ground.Today, the tide has turned almost a full circle, with the agency hoisting its relevance to the economy and the average man on the street. Unlike the situation preceding his assumption of duty, the agency is back on track towards fulfilling its mandate, posting one research breakthrough after the other.

The year 2018 had started with negative news emanating from the all-important National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA). Its former director general/CEO, Professor Lucy Ogbadu, whose tenure ended the previous November, was enmeshed in allegations of financial impropriety for which the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had dragged her, along with nine other officials and three companies before the Federal High Court, Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, on a 48-count charge of money laundering.

EFCC had sprung into action based on petitions it received in June 2017 in which the then DG/CEO was accused of awarding numerous contracts in gross violation of the Public Procurement Act and regular payment of monies by the BIODEC Centres into the account of a company allegedly owned by her.

According to reports, in spite of the pending case against her, the erstwhile DG lobbied unsuccessfully to have her tenure renewed. The former Director General departed without anyone being appointed to succeed her either in a substantive or acting capacity, thus leaving a leadership vacuum in the federal agency.

In spite of a circular signed by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr. Boss Mustapha, on December 4, 2017, titled “End of Tenure Processes for Heads of Extra-ministerial Departments, Directors General, Chief Executive Officers of Parastatals, Agencies, Commissions and Government-owned Companies and Succession Guideline,” NABDA went without a chief executive for two months. The circular, which was addressed to all permanent secretaries, directed that any director general whose tenure was ending must hand over to the most senior officer in the agency “as long as the officer does not have any pending disciplinary matter.”

The directive of the Honourable Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, that the most senior technical director in the agency be appointed in an acting capacity was rebuffed by the then permanent secretary in the ministry, Dr. Amina Bello Shamaki, citing a pending disciplinary matter against Professor Alex Akpa, the then research director (medical) who, in that position, was most suited to wear the cap in terms of seniority. Akpa was alleged to have ignored an official query issued to him almost a year earlier, which he denied, saying no such thing happened as he denied ever receiving any query from anyone during the period. According to stories that made the rounds then, the agency’s security operatives, acting on tip off from an in-house whistle blower, in February 2017 intercepted the research director while trying to remove some laboratory equipment from NABDA’s Medical Laboratory Department without due authority to do so and that he was issued the said query.

However, R & D Watch found out that said equipment – two clinical examination couches, examination light source, privacy screen stand, drip stand, hospital trolley and double wash basin – were in the process of being purchased by NABDA from a firm of laboratory equipment suppliers. The equipment in question were said to have been sourced by Professor Akpa and were yet to be paid for. In that situation, the equipment were not yet property of the agency and so were not yet in the stores of the agency and were only being kept in a holding capacity, a situation which made the research director to oversee their safety from time to time.

The vacuum persisted for two months until January 19, 2017, when the supervising director of NABDA in the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology, Pharmacist Abayomi Oguntunde, was appointed as overseeing director general (ODG) for NABDA while the permanent secretary continued to look the minister in the eye over the appointment of Professor Akpa into the position. Meanwhile, the situation at the federal agency left the house utterly divided, with the schism resulting in low staff morale while facilities suffered neglect. In such a situation, research, which is the core mandate of the agency, was the least on the minds of anyone.

Although the ODG tried his best to control the situation, situation did not return to normal until May 30 when the Honourable Minister, on the strength of legal advice from the Attorney General of the Federation, appointed Professor Alex Akpa as the acting Director General of NABDA.

When the professor of pharmaceutical microbiology and biotechnology, who is also a senior fellow of the International Association of Research Scholars and Administrators became the acting DG, he promptly proved he was not a mere laboratory scientist but also an astute manager of men. This was one of the things that attracted Dr. (Mrs.) Rosa Gidado, an assistant director at NABDA and country coordinator of Open Forum on Agricultural Biotechnology Africa (Nigerian chapter), to Akpa’s management style.

As a pioneer staff of NABDA, Dr. Gidado has seen many Director Generals and is in a vantage position to make comparison. In her words: “Before he came in, there was so much tension here, but he has been able to douse that tension. You can’t say it’s 100 per cent because you can’t please everybody. I think that town hall meeting actually helped a lot. People were thinking that he would come with vengeance. I think he took things easy. He came down to everyone’s level. He’s ready to carry everyone along as evident in the fact that he gives everyone the opportunity to contribute. He has listening ears.”

This virtue was corroborated by Dr. Adekunle Rowaiye, who assumed the leadership of NABDA branch of ASURI third week of January. A consultant veterinarian and assistant director in the Department of Medical Biotechnology at the research institute, Rowaiye admires Akpa’s style of listening to his subordinates. “No matter how intelligent you are,” he says, “you are more intelligent when you feed on the intelligence of others, and that’s a virtue Professor Akpa has. He listens. He picks up bits and pieces from what you are saying. Even if you look stupid, he doesn’t cut you, he doesn’t shut you down. He listens to you, he notes them down. Sometimes when you are talking to your DG, your DG is taking notes, because he’s a man that is learning.

“He is very meticulous, he is analytical, and so, for me, that’s a good leader. What that person will bring is an inclusive government. If you are not sensitive to the plight of the people you’re leading, then your leadership will become a failure. The time he has spent in the saddle is still too short to judge him, really, but what we have seen on ground, they are markers, indication that we’re building a good solid foundation.”

What was uppermost on his mission list was to see NABDA delivering on mandate and making the agency more relevant to the nation’s economy and making direct impact on the lives of average Nigerians. To do this, he knew that he would need a willing workforce, so he set out to motivate the workers whom he loves to call his colleagues.
“My aim is to create better working condition, better salary structure, fairness, equity, justice and to protect staff from intimidation,” he told delegates at the BIODEC conference in December. “This we can achieve together.

He added: “The solution to any problem starts first from knowing the problem. I have been in the system; I know our problems. As one journalist who came to interview me recently said, having been in the system, I know where the corpses are buried and where to exhume them.” It took him little time to appropriately motivate staff and cultivate their trust and confidence through worker-friendly initiatives and policies. For the staff of the agency at Uburu, Bogoro and Ubulu Uku BIODEC Centres who had remained without salaries for almost two years, he secured a firm commitment to commence the payment of their salaries and firmed up an arrangement with Keystone Bank to commence operation within the agency to easy the banking headaches of staff.

Under Professor Akpa’s watch, NABDA has taken delivery of 26 houses for members of staff, being the first set of the over 100 being expected in a collaboration with the Federal Housing Authority (FHA), the first of its kind in the agency. Checks by R & D Watch revealed that the story of NABDA as one of the least paid in the science and technology family might soon become history, with negotiations to secure an advanced salary for the staff progressing satisfactorily. In addition to this, a comprehensive staff audit has been embarked upon to address backlog of staff promotion and placement grievances.

He has come up with a policy of stepping down frivolous disciplinary actions against staff while expressing a sincere desire to ensure continued protection of staff from intimidation and persecution, delayed and untimely confirmation and promotion exercises.

Professor Akpa’s determination to improve the conditions of women and children bore fruit through the establishment of a standard crèche, which greatly relieved pressure on nursing mothers and their babies.
Still on staff welfare, his administration has concluded negotiations for the establishment of a banking facility in NABDA headquarters to alleviate the suffering of staff. Keystone Bank has secured space on the ground floor of NABDA Admin Block and is expected to commence operation anytime soon.

In addition, plans for the establishment of a Medical Research Centre within the compound have reached an advanced stage. This facility, in addition to the provision of basic/emergency medical support to staff, will serve as a Centre for research into infectious diseases including HIV/AIDS, hepatitis B & C, malaria, tuberculosis and meningitis, among others.

With regards to NABDA delivering on mandate, the first positive news which reverberated from the agency after Professor Akpa took over as acting director general was the release of two Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) cotton varieties into the Nigerian market. The varieties, known by their codes, MRC7377BG11 and MRC7361BG11, were registered by the National Committee on Naming, Registration and Release of Crop Materials. The two transgenic cotton hybrid varieties were released by the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology through the National Varietal release Committee at the National Centre for Genetic Resources and Biotechnology (NACGRAB) at Moor Plantation, Ibadan, Oyo State.

An elated Professor Akpa said the development in the nation’s agricultural system was Nigeria’s first home-grown genetically modified crop. “With encouragement and support from the government, Nigeria has registered its homegrown GM Cotton saving our farmers the trouble of contending with the local conventional variety which is no longer accepted at the international market,” he said.

“This new variety that has just been officially registered has the potential of being adopted in all the cotton growing zones of Nigeria with maturity of 150 -160 days, it is resistant to Bollworm complex, high seed cotton yield, early maturity tolerant to suckling insect pest with fibre length of 30.0 to 30.5mm and a fibre strength of 26.5 to 27.0 g/tex (tenacity) and micronaire (strength) 3.9 to 4.1.”

Experts see the Bt cotton varieties as being capable of re-launching Nigeria, a former giant in textile production, into renewed wealth from export of cotton. The yields of the varieties are 4.1 to 4.4 tonnes per hectare while the local variety gives an output of 600 to 900kg per hectare, thus confirming the superiority of the Bt cotton varieties over the local variety.

Speaking at a world press conference in Abuja to announce the release of the transgenic cotton hybrid varieties, science and technology minister, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, congratulated NABDA and the collaborating agencies including the Institute of Agricultural Research (IAR) of Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, the National Agricultural Seed Council (NASC), the National Agricultural Quarantine Service (NAQS) and the National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA) for the success of the release.

The permanent secretary, Federal Ministry of Science and Technology, Mr. Bitrus B. Nabasu, noted that the development would revamp the nation’s moribund textile industry, even as he described the breakthrough as a clear indication that partnership works. The Guardian reports him as calling it “a partnership between an administration that listens and scientists that are committed to meeting national needs using cutting-edge technologies. It is not hard to see that in the next few years, Nigeria will assume a pride of place in the global textile and garment trade.”
Also speaking at the event, Akpa acknowledged all the collaborating institutions, listing them as:

• IAR;
• NASC;
• NAQS
• National Cereals Research Institute (NCRI); and
• The National Root Crops Research Institute (NRCRI).

NABDA’s core mandate is the “promotion, coordination and deployment of cutting-edge biotechnology research and development, processes and products for the socio–economic well-being of the nation.” It has five technical departments, namely: Agricultural Biotechnology, Medical Biotechnology, Environmental Biotechnology and Bio-conservation, Bio-entrepreneurship and Extension Service, Genetics, Genomics and Bioinformatics. The agency has its Bio-resources Development Centres across 30 states of the federation, with the mandate, according to Akpa, to harness the bio-resources unique to each particular zone or state.

“This country is so vast,” he told R & D Watch, and there’s hardly any state of this country that does not have bio-resource unique to the environment. So, these Centres are supposed to harness those unique bio-resources, develop them, adopt and apply technology to improve them. For example, if you travel to Abuja from the eastern part of the country, from around Kogi, down to Benue, and even part of the South-East, at certain times of the year, you have so many oranges, mangoes, and so on. However, almost 45 per cent of these are wasted and lost. By their mandate, the BIODEC Centres are supposed to help us to prevent that.”

Apart from the activities of the BIODEC Centres, NABDA has signed a memorandum of understanding for the development of bio-crops with a private sector player, Bio-crops Nigeria Limited, in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology and the Federal Ministry of Budget and Planning.

According to Akpa, NABDA is billed to start mass-propagating elite-yam seedlings and yam varieties, adding, “we will produce it at such a scale that farmers will come to take them and people will start seeing and feeling the impact of biotechnology and the relevance of NABDA to the economy.” In addition, the agency has plans to start producing bio-pesticides, bio-normaticides and bio-fertilizers on a large commercial scale. Bio-fertilizer, he says, is way ahead of chemical fertilizer, in addition to being safe to the environment, because it is biologically based.

It is on record that between the 3rd and 7th of last October, a high-powered delegation led by the Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, visited the Republic of Cuba on a working tour. With Professor Akpa on board, the negotiation for the establishment of a facility for the production and research into bio-pharmaceuticals was successfully initiated during the period. R & D Watch has it on good account that an expanded meeting was scheduled to be held later.

Under Professor Akpa’s watch, NABDA is also making its impact felt in the area of bio-gas and bio-energy. Already, an MOU has been penned between NABDA and the Nigeria Prisons Service “for the establishment, including research into and provision of bio-gas generating facilities in major prisons across the country, using the abundant human waste resources in the prisons in partnership with the International Red Cross Society and the German Government,” Akpa beat his chest to R & D Watch.

“The Nigerian Prisons Service approached us and we have started working with them. In the prisons, we have thousands of men and women, all concentrated in one place, and then their human waste, their faeces, can very easily be converted to bio-gas. It can actually generate enough gas to cook all the food required in the prisons. From it, we can even produce enough gas to generate small amount of electricity for the prison.”
In addition, negotiations have reached an advanced stage for the establishment of a BioGas/BioEnergy Project in NABDA headquarters’ in partnership with GIZ. This project, according to the acting CEO of the RI, is aimed at positively harnessing the enormous biomass resource in Nigeria for bio-energy production in both NABDA and Lugbe, its host community.

Sources within the Federal Agency told R&D Watch that apart from one or two gladiators who are still suffering from a hang-over of the bickering immediately preceding the appointment of Akpa as acting DG, there is a general feeling of renewed confidence in the new leadership among the rank and file.
Rating the Akpa Administration beyond the staff welfare initiatives which are being applauded by all, Dr. Gidado is upbeat about her senior colleague leading NABDA into the era of delivering on institutional mandate.
According to her, judged along the lines of promotion of biotech activities in the country, coordination of biotech activities, policy formulation, domestication of the technology and awareness creation, Akpa is second to none.

Gidado is unequivocal about Akpa’s background as a home-grown chief executive working in his favour in achieving so much within so short a time.

Her words: “I agree with the fact that vacancies for the of DG/CEO should be filled from within, because it actually gives those of us that are here the hope that one day it can come to our own turn. But if they keep on bringing DGs from outside, it’s really discouraging. The person coming from outside doesn’t understand the terrain and it will take time for him or her to settle down. He will be briefed with different information by different people. “That is what has actually caused problems in NABDA and slowed the agency down. It doesn’t really pay us as pioneers of this place, as career people. We have been here, and we should be given that opportunity. Research institutes, as mandate research agencies, are very vital to Nigeria’s technological and economic development and those who understand the mandate of each agency should be put in the saddle of CEOs.”

Describing Professor Akpa as a pioneer member of staff at the agency, Gidado says “he knows where the shoe pinches,” a position also shared by Dr. Rowaiye who claims to be a “number one advocate of picking the DG from the system.” Speaking along the line of Dr. Gidado, Rowaiye says, “for a career officer, it gives you an opportunity to dream that one day, you will get to the apogee of your career and become the DG. It’s an encouragement and an incentive…For me, we need a home-grown solution for our problems.” To the Academic Staff Union of Research Institutions (ASURI), representing the interests of researchers in mandate research institutes, Agencies and Allied Colleges in Nigeria, the issue of importing CEOs from outside the research institute sector, especially from the universities, has been a drawback for the mandate research institutes over the years.

In a letter of 9th August 2017 to the Minister of Science and Technology, Dr, Ogbonnaya Onu, over the then impending vacancy for the position of CEO at the NABDA, entitled, “LETTER OF COMMENDATION AND FERVENT APPEAL ON THE MATTER OF APPOINTMENT OF ACTING OR SUBSTANTIVE DIRECTOR GENERAL FOR NATIONAL BIOTECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT AGENCY (NABDA) IN LINE WITH CONDITIONS OF SERVICE FOR RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTIONS,” ASURI, commended the ministry for standing out among others in sticking to the rules and pro-actively insisted on picking a candidate from within in filling the vacancy. The letter, signed by the union’s Secretary General, Dr. Theophilus Ndubuaku, says, “We are concerned about the impending appointment of a new DG for NABDA whether in acting or substantive capacity. We fervently appeal that such appointment should be made from within NABDA and in the case of an Acting DG, the most senior technical director should be appointed in line with extant rules in the Conditions of Service and Public Service Rules. We note and commend the (Federal) Ministry of Science and Technology that has stuck to these rules in the past decades which is the reason why the research institutes in your ministry have experienced industrial peace over the years.”

The union backed up its claim by relying on chapter 2 subsection 2.11 (page 10) of the Conditions of Service of Federal Research Institutes, Colleges of Agriculture and Allied Institutions, which it says “will render the appointment of an executive director from outside the institute very contentious.” The said chapter 2, subsection 2.11 (page 10) of the Conditions of Service states: “(c) Consideration shall first be given to serving officers and recruitment shall be by internal and external advertisement only on posts below HATISS 12. Other positions on HATISS 12 and above shall be by promotions only, except in rare situations where no officer of the required discipline exists, at least, on a position two scales below the vacant position in the employment of the institution.”

Concerning the appointment of chief executive, ASURI relies on the strength of chapter 2 subsection 2.1.3 (c) of the same document on Method of Entry and Advancement, which states: “In addition to the qualifications of a Director (Research) (as stated below), which includes extensive research as evidenced by scientific publications, candidates should also have served for at least three years as a Director (Research) and also (be) experienced in the management of a research organization…”

In the same petition, the union canvassed its aversion for the appointment of CEOs for research institutes from outside the system. “We unequivocally affirm that most DGs appointed from outside the Research Institute sector performed very poorly. They lacked focus, commitment and understanding of the basic necessary ingredients for the execution of the mandate of the institutes. They remained strange bedfellows with and irritable impositions to the entire staff they were appointed to administer. In the best of instances, they were merely tolerated until the end of their tenures, but in others, the staff ran out of patience midway into their tenures and the institutes drifted into ungovernable states.”

Concluding, the union appealed to the Honourable Minister “to confine the search for the DG for NABDA to the Agency knowing that there are highly qualified researchers of international repute in the institution.”

The petition was copied to the then acting Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Chief of Staff to the President, Honourable Minister of Labour and Employment, the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Science and Technology and the Chairman, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). Further checks by R&D Watch stumbled on a 23rd November 2017 circular with reference number SGF/OP/1/S.3/T issued by the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, entitled “RE: PROCEDURE FOR APPOINTING CHIEF EXECUTIVES AND HEADS OF PARASTATALS, GOVERNMENT-OWNED COMPANIES, AGENCIES AND INSTITUTIONS,” which directed “all ministries to adhere strictly to the extant guideline for appointing Chief Executives and Heads of Parastatals, Government Agencies and Institutions.”
The circular emphasizes in paragraphs 3(ii) and (iii):
“such appointments which should be without prejudice to eligible serving officers competing for these positions must be based on strict adherence to the principle of justice, equity and fair play;

“To ensure stability, continuity and improvement of staff morale, serving officers shall be encouraged to aspire to top positions of their establishments through effective career development and succession planning.” Personally signed by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr. Boss Mustapha, the circular was addressed to the Chief of Staff to the President; Deputy Chief of Staff to the President; all Ministers; Head of Civil Service of the Federation; Special Advisers; Senior Special Assistants; Service Chiefs/Inspector General of Police; Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria; Chairman, Federal Civil Service Commission; all Permanent Secretaries; Clerk of the National Assembly; and the Accountant General of the Federation, among several others.

Watchers of the research institutes sector believe very strongly that many of the agencies will deliver on mandate if political leaders and the establishment will keep to the rules and allow round pegs go into round holes. One of such cases they readily point at is the Lake Chad Research Institute (LCRI), Maiduguri, which is at the centre of Nigeria’s silent wheat revolution. The Goodluck Jonathan Administration was miffed at Nigeria spending N635 billion yearly on wheat importation and called on LCRI to look for a way out. LCRI is mandated statutorily for the genetic improvement of wheat, barley and millet, as well as the development of high-yielding, early maturing, drought and heat-tolerant varieties of crops.

The then executive director of the institute, Dr. Oluwasina Olabanji, who was also the team leader of Wheat Agricultural Transformation Agenda under the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, rose to the occasion and delivered. It is well known in the sector that the fact of his being a home-grown CEO who was well grounded in the mandate of the institute contributed immensely to the successes achieved in this area. In a follow-up letter dated 20th August 2018, entitled “A RENEWED APPEAL BY THE ACADEMIC STAFF UNION OF RESEARCH INSTITUTIONS (ASURI) ON THE APPOINTMENT OF DGS/CEOS OF RESEARCH INSTITUTIONS,” the union emphasized its position against appointing CEOs from outside, and specifically from the universities. In the words of the union, “many professors imported from the university system as DGs/CEOs in Research Institutes are in the habit of boasting that if the institutes run into redeemable turbulence they would simply return to their waiting professorial seats at their home universities the very next day. Their loyalty and commitments to the institutes, where they see themselves as armies of occupation, are therefore often in doubt.”

On the other hand, the union argued, “an appointee from within the Research Institute would be more mindful of spoiling the ground in his home front knowing that he or she would return to the fold after his tenure and continue to take the flack, non-stop, from his or her colleagues in the institute until he or she retires from service and even after.”

And a ready example of this is the same Dr. Olabanji of LCRI who completed his second four-year tenure in July 2017, handed over to the most senior research director in the institute and returned to his duty post within the institute, after serving out monumentally successful tenure as ED.
One such research institute over which the labour union is dusting its battle gears is the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Research and Development (NIPRD), Idu, Abuja, where a Director General was allegedly imported from outside. In a petition to the Honourable Minister of Health, Professor Isaac Adewole, last October 30, ASURI told the minister: “We have been watching events unfold in this regard from the onset, but trusting in the integrity of the Honourable Minister as a due process person, we hesitated to complain, believing that you will always stand by the drive of the Buhari Administration to put an end to impunity.” However, in view of the delays in resolving the matters arising from the appointment of the DG, we hereby state as follows:

1. “That we are aware that one of the candidates interviewed for that position and who has now been purportedly appointed was not qualified for shortlisting in the first instance but coming into the fray as an anointed candidate, rules were not only bent but broken in his favour. For instance, he got his PhD less than six years ago and was invited for the interview where 13 of the 15 candidates for that position had over 20 years of post-PhD experience;
2. “That we are aware that due process was short-circuited in making recommendations to the Presidency by some persons occupying exalted positions within the Ministry of Health by-passing the Minister in the process;
3. “That due process was stood on its head by appointing the anointed candidate, thus by-passing the well-known process;
4. “That we are aware that apart from the anointed candidate not being a Researcher at all, he specialized in policy and not core pharmacy which is the forte of NIPRD;
5. “That in that position, he is a square peg in a round hole in a premier institution which has three professors as of today;
6. “That we are persuaded that the Honourable Minister, as a former Vice-Chancellor of the nation’s premier university, would know where the shoe pinches as far as such a vital Research Institute as NIPRD is concerned but thus far, we can no longer fold our arms because to allow this situation would be tantamount to ruining the entire vision and mandate of that RDI.”

The letter, headlined, “A CLARION CALL BY THE ACADEMIC STAFF UNION OF RESEARCH INSTITUTIONS (ASURI) THAT THE MINISTER TAKES CHARGE OF THE PROCESS OF THE APPOINTMENT OF THE DIRECTOR GENERAL OF THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR PHARMACEUTICAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT (NIPRD)” and signed by ASURI scribe, Dr. Ndubuaku, was received at the office of the honourable Minister last October 31. However, R & D Watch has it on good account that the Minister may have called the bluff of the union by refusing to dignify ASURI with even a response. Our checks confirmed that not only was the Health Minister by-passed in the process but also the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, which statutorily processes and announces such appointments, was not carried along in the appointment of NIPRD’s current CEO, Dr. Obi Peter Adigwe.

It is generally believed that the Minister of State for Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, spearheaded the appointment, over which ASURI is spoiling for war. Not waiting to take chances at NABDA, the Academic Staff of Research Institutions is not mincing words over its confidence in the capability of the agency’s acting Director General/CEO, Professor Alex Akpa, to lead NABDA and is not hiding its support for his candidacy.

In a letter addressed to both the Honourable Minister of science and Technology and the Chairman of NABDA Governing Board, ASURI has argued that the present monumental strides being recorded at NABDA are attributable to fact of a homeboy being in the saddle of affairs. The letter, signed by Dr. Ndubuaku, reads: “We do not have to go far in looking for evidence to support our assertion that appointing acting or substantive Director Generals/CEOs from within is tantamount to putting a right peg in a right hole, with the kind of never-before monumental strides which have been recorded at NABDA in the last half year with the appointment of an insider in the person of Professor Alex Akpa as the Acting Director General/CEO.

The difference so far made at NABDA for now can only be compared with the difference made at the National Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) by the appointment of the late Professor Dora Akunyili as the DG of the Agency by the then Olusegun Obasanjo Administration. “All of a sudden, NABDA has made international headlines by releasing two Bt Cotton varieties known by their codes, MRC7377BG11 and MRC7361BG11, by the National Committee on Naming, Registration and Release of Crop Materials. This approval and registration marked the official entry into the nation’s agricultural system of the first homegrown genetically modified crop. It was the Honourable Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, who proudly announced this development at a world press conference.

“In addition, as if NABDA had never existed before, the Agency is making waves by introducing bio-fertilizer, bio-insecticide, bio-pesticide and has struck a deal with the Nigerian Prisons Service to convert the human waste generated by inmates to bio-gas to cook all the food requirements of the prisons and generate some electricity for the inmates. All these are possible because someone who understands the mandate of the Agency while rising through the ranks is in the saddle.”

At the home front, the Executive Committee Members of ASURI at the BIODEC Centres nationwide have endorsed their acting DG for the job. Rising from a one-day conference with the theme, “Trade Unionism: The Prospects, Duties and Obligations of a Researcher Comrade,” which took place last December 15, the union EXCO passed a vote of confidence in Professor Akpa, hinging their preference of the erudite researcher and administrator on “ his unequalled achievement within so short a time, having been only appointed last June.”

In a letter, “ENDORSEMENT OF PROFESSOR ALEX AKPA AS SUBSTANTIVE DIRECTOR GENERAL OF NATIONAL BIOTECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT AGENCY (NABDA),” conveying their resolution to the Honourable Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, the BIODEC ASURI EXCOs said “although traditionally, it is the lot of BIODEC staff, who are flung in distant locations, to be forgotten, his tenure has given us a sigh of relief as we have seen real evidence that he truly understands and is committed to the mandate of NABDA and knows for sure that the BIODEC Centres are key to the attainment of the mandate.” The letter adds: “Besides, as researchers, we can see a bright future for NABDA, under his watch, being more relevant to the economy and national development. We are convinced beyond reasonable doubt that Professor Akpa being at the helm of affairs will see NABDA delivering on mandate like never before.”

According to them, his appointment as Acting DG, which they claimed has helped to restore industrial peace, progress and development, will lead the Agency into achieving quantum growth that had eluded the Agency over the years. The letter, signed by 50 executives, says: “It is interesting to note that within this period of his Acting capacity, the Agency’s operations which were hitherto moribund have been resuscitated for maximum operations, while issues of staff welfare that were previously relegated to the background are now being given the desired consideration.

“…it is proper that an experienced person with vast knowledge on the operations and activities of the Agency be appointed as the Director General and Chief Executive Officer and the cap fits the present Acting Director General in the person of Professor Alex Akpa.”

They argued on behalf of the Union and the entire staff of the BIODEC Centres that NABDA under the leadership of Professor Akpa would witness “monumental growth and development within the shortest possible time.” A fellow of the World Health Organization (WHO), a fellow of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (FRSTMH), a fellow of the Institute of Corporate Administration of Nigeria (FCAI) and a professor of pharmaceutical microbiology and biotechnology, Akpa has been granted patents by the Patents Office of the Federal Ministry of Commerce, Abuja, for four of his original inventions, namely:

• Patent No. RP. 15609: “The Simple Humidity Chamber;”
• Patent No. RP. 15610: “Phytolacca dodecandra (L’ Herit) Ethiopian/Zimbabwean Varieties as a Larvicide against Aedes aegypti ( Linnaeus ) – A yellow fever vector in Nigeria;”
• Patent No. RP. 15611: “The Mass Collection Method;” and
• Patent No. RP. 15612: “The Multiple Collection Method.”

Before crossing to the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology, he had served as the pioneer head, Department of Pathology and later Medical Microbiology at the Ebonyi State University Teaching Hospital (EBSUTH), rising to the rank of associate professor during the period (1998 to 2002). He later became professor of pharmaceutical microbiology and biotechnology at the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences of the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Nigeria on March 18, 2010. He holds a Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) honours degree, obtained from the University of Ibadan in June 1977; a Master of Science (M.Sc.) degree obtained at the University of Jos in September 1981 and a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree obtained at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, in May 1988.

A stand-out scholar, the B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees were read on Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) scholarship, while the Ph.D. degree was achieved on a WHO Tropical Diseases Research (WHO/TDR) scholarship. The acting DG has been involved in many internationally competed for research projects, either as principal investigator, co-investigator or consultant. Some of these research projects are:

• UNDP/World Bank/WHO-TDR Research Training Grant leading to the award of Ph.D. degree of the Ahmadu Bello University (Principal Investigator ID 830097);
• UNDP/World Bank/WHO-TDR, Institutional Strengthening Grant (Co-Investigator, ID 880218);
• FMH/UNDP/World Bank/WHO-TDR, Onchocerciasis Operational Research (OORC) Grant (Principal Investigator, ID MH. 2846 / S./ 124);
• FMH/UNDP/World Bank/WHO-TDR Onchocerciasis Operational Research (OORC) Grant (Principal Investigator; ID MH. 2846/S./217); and
• The Carter Centre/Global 2000 Operational Research on the Assessment and Evaluation of the Effectiveness of the Guinea Worm Eradication Programme in Aninri Local Government Area of Enugu State (Principal Consultant).

He has attracted many international grants and joint venture collaborations worth several millions of naira to NABDA.

According to R & D Watch sources, no fewer than 55 candidates, mostly from the universities, have applied for the position of Director General/CEO of NABDA.

By TOYE FAWOLE