News Agency of Nigeria boss, Niboro, faces probe over allegations of corruption

Government inquiry will open Wednesday (today) to examine allegations of corruption and mismanagement against Ima Niboro, the head of the News Agency of Nigeria, and former spokesperson to President Goodluck Jonathan, accused of abuse of office and financial misdeeds.

The investigation by the board of NAN, authorised by the Ministry of Information, will commence more than one month after three staff members of the agency filed petitions accusing Mr. Niboro of approving funds beyond his powers, awarding contracts without necessary approvals, and dampening staff’s morale.

The staff also accuse Mr. Niboro of distorting a functional organogram of the agency through “irrational transfers”.

The allegations

But those accusing Mr. Niboro say he is adding no value to the agency he was deployed to head a last year, saying he has instead created more problems through deliberate fraudulent and overbearing policies.

The redesign and management of NAN’s webs infrastructure is foremost on the grievance list compiled by some staff of the agency.

The staffers accused Mr. Niboro of awarding the contract for the design of a new news portal to Infomall – a Nigerian software development company – for N16.6 million without a tendering process that would have seen the contractor compete with other developers for expertise and cost.

“Indeed, the award was made on job proposal,” the petition submitted to the permanent secretary, Ministry of information, in February said.

The same company was awarded a second data archiving contract for N16.5 million and the sums paid instantly, “without certification by the technical or IT unit”.

Mr. Niboro, however, claimed iMate Ltd and Alpha International Ltd also bidded for the project. But the winner of the contract, Infomall, submitted its bid within the 24 hours before the contract was awarded.

“On January 12 (2015), he transferred from the editorial department, the executive director and Editor-in-Chief, Isaac Ighure, to Marketing department,” the protesting staffs also wrote in their petition.

This followed the outbound transfers of two other senior managing editors and directors – Joe Bankole and Lawal Ado – in the editorial department.

“These transfers had not only hindered editorial productivity but seriously dampened the morals of reporters and editors who are disillusioned by career growth uncertainty,” the aggrieved staffs complained. “It is a case of ‘when gold rust, what happens to iron?’”

Mr. Niboro argued that he made the transfers because of a longstanding squabble between Messr. Bankole and Ado that affected their jobs at the agency for years.

Mr. Niboro was President Goodluck Jonathan’s spokesperson from when he was governor in Bayelsa state till shortly after Mr. Jonathan succeeded late Umaru Yar’Adua as president in 2010.

He was appointed the head of the news agency in February 2014, barely one year ago. He was called off a newsroom to head the agency nearly three years after he was sacked to pave way for the appointment of Reuben Abati, Mr. Jonathan’s current spokesperson.

In his short stay, his subordinates say he has acquired four luxury cars worth N50 million with the agency’s funds, while staff are owed allowances and are not provided with some of the most needs like drinking water at NAN’s head office in Abuja.

“Within the last one year, Mr. Niboro acquired two Ford Pilot trucks – both costing more than N10.9 million each – and a Range Rover 2010 model worth N23.5 million,” the petition said. “These were acquired nine months after the agency paid for the purchase of a Pajero.”

Mr. Niboro admitted buying the Ford Pilot trucks with flash lights but said that he acquired them for special duties including navigating difficult terrains to hunt for news reports.

“I put one in Abuja and the other in Lagos,” he said. “I do not use them myself. I do not drive in convoy as the petitioners claim.”

The staff also accuse Mr. Niboro of awarding shady contracts and having a preference for paying for them in cash, rather than through the banks.

“Sometimes he pays contractors in full from start,” his colleagues said.

Mr. Niboro argued that these claims were false.

“They are lying,” he said, pointing at a table in the document showing that a contractor upgrading NAN’s office building had an outstanding balance with the agency.

He explained that the allegations he huge sums in cash to contractors false too. He claimed that he cashed out the sums in Naira, channelled them through a Bureau de Change who changed the money into U.S. dollars before paying same into the agency’s domiciliary account from where the contractor was paid.

“No contractor was paid in cash,” he said. “It is a standard practice. Even in my private business, I’ve done it.”

The investigative panel is expected to verify all the claims and issue precise verdicts.

News Agency of Nigeria boss, Niboro, faces probe over allegations of corruption