There is a brewing crisis at the National Centre For Women Development (NCWD) over the refusal of former Director of Procurement, Collins Akpemu to vacate his former office and resume at the Federal Ministry of Education where he has been posted to.
Akpume was posted to the Education Ministry via a memo from the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP). Despite the explicit instruction in the memo for Akpume and other listed officials to resume at their various new postings on or before Friday 5th February, the director has stayed-put at the NCWD three weeks after with staff complaining about his continued stay.
We reliably gathered that Akpemu’s refusal to leave the NCWD is creating administrative problems as another senior staff of the agency’s Procurement Department has been given a letter to resume as director of the department but he cannot operate without proper handing over.
A reliable source at the agency explained that with the letter given to the new head of Procurement, Muktar Usman, his predecessor should have immediately handed over as government is a continuum.
According to the source, Akpemu has been playing a game of hide and seek with the new director of procurement, even as he has continued issuing new letters of contract award, resulting in worried staff saying he is staying back to complete deals he started with contractors. A second memo from the BPP to Akpemu asking that he immediately resumes has also has fallen on deaf ears, as he was seen in his office at the NCWD up until Wednesday 24th February. He didn’t report for the remaining works days of last week, again postponing the handover.
Abujareporters spoke with the embattled Director to find out why he has not handed over but he chose to cover up the truth claiming he had resumed. When we took him up on his visiting the erstwhile office where had been posted out, he mischievously demanded video of his visit. Curiously he was sighted again in the office on Monday March 1, 2021