Shocking revelations of corruption, illegal reappointment of Dr. Ojo as DG of NASC

…As Buhari, Agric Minister urged to urgently intervene

By DESERT HERALD
Since coming to power in 2015, President Muhammadu Buhari has invested so much and sacrificed a lot in the fight against corruption. To further demonstrate his commitment in fighting corruption at all levels including several unreported issues in federal government ministries, agencies and parastatals, the President last week in Kaduna during the historic graduation ceremony of over 300 cadet officers of the EFCC that were groomed and trained to fight all forms of corruption assured the nation that he will not interfere in the work of the two anti-graft agencies and reassured the public that even the anti-corruption agencies notably the EFCC and the ICPC will be under close watch to ensure that they did not compromise in clear cases of fraud, corruption particularly at the federal service where he admitted that the situation is endemic.

The President had also directed and warned ministers and other top government functionaries to ensure that cases of corruption and other fraud under them is not compromise, is exposed and must be prosecuted. It is on that note that DESERT HERALD’s seachlight and investigation took it to an important Agency of the government under the Federal Ministry of Agriculture by name National Agric Seeds Council of Nigeria, NASC.

Considering the priority given to the Agric sector by President Buhari and his target of ensuring that the nation feeds herself, the case at NASC and it’s crucial role in that direction, how the important Agency is being basterdise, clear cases of monumental corruption and nepotism under its Director General, Dr. Philip Olusegun Ojo, the seachlight on it cannot come at a better time. And with the careful selection of Alhaji Sabo Nanono as the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development and the mandate given to him, issues that will undermine his performance and for him to ensure that laws of the civil service and on appointments are not in any way violated are now the primary focus of most media houses.

The National Agric Seeds Council is an Agency in the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, located at NASC headquarters, KM 20 Abuja – Lokoja. The main mandate of the Council is the regulation and
supervision of the Nigerian Seed Industry to ensure that Nigerian farmers have access to high quality improved seeds of all crop varieties for higher productivity per unit area in line with the laudable Agric revolution agenda of Mr. President. It is understood that high quality seeds of improved varieties is the foundation and panacea for higher crop production and ultimately self sufficiency and attainment of food security in Nigeria and a pivot for the economic diversification agenda of Buhari administration from over dependence in oil sector to non-oil sector.

With such an enormous mandate of the Council and the importance attached to the quality of seeds as the foundation of all Agric productivity, stakeholders are worried in the poor management, corruption, nepotism,  illegal appointment and abuse of power going on in the Council under the watch of Dr. Ojo. In fact, as DESERT HERALD authoritatively gathered, it is  threatening its growth and development.

A typical example of such fraud and abuse power is the case of illegal appointment and the reported re-appointment of Dr. Ojo as the Director General of the National Agric Seed Council. Investigation by DESERT HERALD reveals that Dr. Philip Olusegun Ojo, sometimes in May 2015 served as a civil servant and retired at the mandatory age of 60 years and 35 years of service in 2015. His records which was seen by this paper has not disputed that.

As in the tradition in the civil service and prior to his mandatory period of retirement, Dr. Ojo who then happens to be the most senior Director automatically as the law demands and pending substantive appointment or confirmation of a new DG, took over from the outgoing DG, Mr. Olatokun. Due to his ability to manipulate the system illegally and to bribe virtually everybody that matters which this paper has probe on, Dr. Ojo this paper gathered was able to served in that acting capacity as the acting DG of NASC between March 2013 to 22nd August 2015.

Dr. Philip Ojo eventually retired officially from the service as the most senior Director in the Council and the acting DG on 28th May 2015. At the time of his retirement, according to the practice in civil service, instead of him to hand over to the most senior Director in the council then, who was in the person of Mr. Thadeus Umolu as the former DG, Mr. Olatokun did to him, the said outing Dr. Philip Olusegun Ojo this paper reliably gathered decided to fraudulently back dated his retirement to May, 22nd 2015 and brought up the attached and equally fraudulent letter from the then Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Agric, Arch Sonny Echono whom we gathred was sufficiently bribed by Dr. Ojo in other to perpetuate his stay not only as the acting DG but a substantive DG. He was then illegally appointed by the Perm Sec as per the letter as the substantive Director General on a consolidated salary scale as per attached nominal roll.

DESERT HERALD gathered that Dr. Ojo’s appointment offends the rule of the council, and therefore makes his appointment NULL and void. But he continued to enjoy that illegality under the then Perm Sec and Minister, Chief Audu Ogbe.
Dr. Olusegun Ojo served illegally for another four years receiving salaries
from government from 25th day of May 2015 to May, 25th 2019.

But what surprised insiders and even staffs in the ministry is that despite the illegal four years he enjoyed which has expired since May, 25th 2019, Mr. Ojo with the full backing of powerful individuals at the ministry and at the centre bribed his way again and bluntly refused to handover as the practice and Due Process demand to the most senior Director in the Council which was exactly what he did four ago when he retired in May 2019.

And surprisingly too, Dr. Philip Ojo came up with another fraud that indicted his integrity and character to continue. DESERT HERALD has confirmed that he came this time with another letter of reappointment purportedly from the immediate past Minister of Agric, Chief Audu Ogbe appointing him again  as the Director General Of National Agric Seeds Council. This paper from the laws gathered that in the civil service, the minister ought not to make this appointment in the sense that the office of Director General of National Agric Seeds Council was not a political office then, because Mr. President has just ascended to the bill establishing the Council on 24th June 2019 to make it political, despite the notice from the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, OSGF, that all political appointment letters must be personally signed by him. Technically, it makes Dr. Ojo’s new letter a fraud,

Determined to stay by all means and when he, Dr. Ojo found out that his fraudulent reappointment was being challenged and will not hold water, he went to shop for another appointment letter, this time manipulating his way and acvording to him it was from the SGF’s office and went ahead to announce his re-appointment in the NTA and two other print media houses.

This is a person who has been retired since 2015, that is shopping for letters of re-appointment, which is illegal and contravene the
rules of civil service. If it was a political appointment, it would have been a
different scenarios but incidentally it was not.

After careful assessment of his fraudulent appointment letter by this paper, it has proven to be illegal and with a lot of ambiguities. In the hurried way, the letter was written for example, the date for his resumption of duty in the nominal roll as DG was on May 22nd 2015 while the appointment letter is reading May, 25th 2015.

Secondly, the Director of Admin (NASC) directed his documentation on
May, 25th 2025. What a dubious blunder was this? A hurried desperation.

In a petition written directly to the new Minister of Agric, Alhaji Nanono who they believe is incorruptible and will act, they draw the attention of Nigerians and the minister to the nation-wide circular issued by the SGF on the 4th December, 2017″ titled “End of tenure processes for head of Extra-Ministerial Departments, DGS, CEOS of Parastatals and Agencies, Commissions and Government Owned Companies. The service wide circular mandated the retiring DGs to handover to the most Senior Director whenever a time has expired. It is however on record that Dr. Olusegun Ojo has never leave office for a day not to talk of complying by handing over.

DESERT HERALD can also reveal that DG Ojo is using the council fund to settle officials of government to secure the DG position by all means and other act of misappropriation.

This paper has also discovered that in the last six months he has collected over a Billion naira from Federal Account for capital, apart from monthly overheads and millions in both local and foreign Currencies from International/local development partners with little or nothing to show for it, aside from uncompleted projects littered in zonal offices whose contracts were awarded by himself more than two times on same projects and monies paid out to his cronies and companies. This details with evidences will be thoroughly reported in our next report on this issue.

The petitioners also drawn the attention of the minister that they were alarmed by the series of petitions written on scandalous misappropriation and corruptions in the council to concern organizations and anti-corruption agencies on Dr. Ojo with no result and vowed to ensure that justice must be done and that Dr. Ojo must do the needful.

An example of many of such is the award of the contract for supplies of seeds during the 2014/2015 wet-season GES program. The DG of the Council acted as a regulator and a player at the same time, to award contract of supplies of seed to his personal company BUMFASH COMPANY LTD worth over ₦50M. What is worrisome in this was where is the corporate office of this his company located? DESERT HERALD could not find the office of the so called fraudulent company in the address he provided during registration at the Corporate Affairs Commission. They were only registered as a conduit-pipe, to defraud the Council using his influence as the DG. And where is the farm that such quantity of seeds produced. This believe it is purely grains procured from market, packaged as seeds which cannot help the farmers anyway. The voucher will be provided in our next report.

The petitioners told the minister that, “we cannot sit down and watch things go wrong when the core manded of this administration is zero tolerance to corruption. He cannot be defrauding the government by receiving salaries since 2015 till date and the council will fold their hands without alerting the public.

We believed that Nigeria is a country with laws, rules and regulations and that the Council belongs to Federal Republic of Nigeria and not to Dr. Ojo. Mr. Honourable Minister the time to act is now. We therefore urged the government as a matter of urgency suspend the DG
and carry out investigations to confirm our reports as the investigations cannot be successful with the DG on the seat as he will do everything to under mind the investigation as he normally does. We assure you that as stakeholders and as professionals in our field we will never close our eyes to any act of impunity, corruption and illegalities in the Council or anywhere in Nigeria”.