Nathaniel Zacchaeus, Abuja

A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, Chief Oluwafemi Adegboye, has asked President Bola Tinubu and the Senate to probe the alleged job racketeering and flagrant disregard for federal character at the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET).

Copies of the petition were also sent to the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Aviation, and the Code of Conduct Bureau.

He demanded that the executive management team and some senior managers should be placed on compulsory leave for proper investigations.

He said investigations should be conducted on all contracts executed in the last nine years and all payments from the agency’s account in the last five years.

Other aspects identified for probe are, training funds in the last three years; the three directorates created and the Salary Grade Level placement in the last six years.

Adegboye further urged the President to call for a genuine review of the NIMET Act, as the last review was done based on selfish interests by the former Minister, Sen. Hadi Sirika.

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He said a special team should ensure that all the lapses in NIMET are corrected after investigations.

Part of the statement read, “In the last eight years, the management, supported by the former minister, Sen. Hadi Sirika, have been operating in flagrant disobedience to principles of federal character.

“All the employments done during this period are one-sided, in favour of the North Western part of the Country, Katsina State in particular. All appointments into the executive and senior management levels of the agency are lopsided.

“Some southern staff were deliberately denied promotion this year, regardless of the availability of vacancies in their cadres.”