The Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Dr Ogbonnaya Onu, has ordered the dissolution of the governing board of the Federal Institute of Industrial Research, Oshodi.

In a letter to the Chairman of the Governing Board, Ibrahim Gwarzo, the minister said the directive was in line with the Research Institute Establishment Order of 1977, which stipulated three years tenure for board members.

Onu, in his letter, said the board secretary had been asked to submit a report of their service.

However, Gwarzo, in his response, said only the President had the powers to dissolve the board.

The chairman also informed the minister that he was citing an outdated law, adding that the Secretary to the Government of the Federation circular of April 18, 1985, superseded it.

UGAMATV gathered that Onu served a similar letter on 10 other governing boards under him, including that of the Project Development Institute, Enugu.

All the boards were said to have rebuffed the minister’s attempt to usurp the powers of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.).

The minister and the FIIRO board had been having a running battle after Onu’s favoured candidate for the position of director-general was removed and demoted for an alleged certificate fraud.

Onu was alleged to have made several other attempts to dissolve the board, which failed.

In the minister’s latest letter dated August 5, 2021, he stated, “In the light of the above, we write to draw your attention to Section 11(1) of the National Science and Technology Development Agency Decree No. 5 of 1977 dated January 20, 1977, read together with sections 9 (3, 4 and 5) of the Research Institutes (Establishment etc) Order 1977 dated September 29, 1977 on tenure of governing board members.

“In line with the above statutory regulation, it has become necessary to inform you and the members of the governing board that the tenure of the governing board, which was inaugurated on Tuesday, March 8, 2018, elapsed on March 7, 2021.

“Consequently, the overseeing Director General/Secretary of the Governing Board has been directed to prepare the end of tenure report and submit it to the ministry.”

The board chairman, however, reminded Onu that it was the prerogative of the President to dissolve the board.

“That the tenure of the governing board of directors has not expired as it is a four-year tenure as per Paragraph 1, Section 1, which states, ‘The period of appointment of the chairman and members of boards of Federal Government statutory corporations and government-owned companies shall be four years in the first instance,” he stated.

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Gwarzo stated that there was also a due process to be followed for the disengagement of board officials at the expiration of their four-year term.

The PRODA Chairman, Daniel Onjeh, who received a similar letter, wondered why the President was not involved in the purported dissolution.

“Hence, your letter lacks basic merit and credibility, because it does not convey the directive of Mr President. It is instructive to state that the current PRODA board was not appointed by the Federal Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, hence the ministry fundamentally lacks the powers to declare the board dissolved,” he added.

Gwarzo and Onjeh copied the President, the SGF and the Permanent Secretary of the ministry in their responses.

A spokesperson for the ministry, Josephine Ademu, said she was not aware of the dissolution of the FIIRO board.