The National Veterinary Research Institute (NVRI), Vom has dismissed allegations of nepotism, procurement irregularities and marginalisation of staff as contained in an open letter addressed to President Bola Tinubu.
The letter, purportedly authored by leaders of the Plateau Youth Council, Berom Youth Moulders and Berom Intelligentsia, accused NVRI of breaching the federal character principle in its 2022 recruitment, sidelining host communities, and planning a lopsided hiring of over 200 staff.
In a rebuttal letter made available to newsmen in Jos, the NVRI management described the claims as "falsehoods and misinformation," stressing that recruitment was based on approved vacancies, specialised skills and federal character guidelines, with authorisation from relevant agencies.
"At no point within the past five years has faith, tribe, ethnicity determined the composition of committees or project teams nor was it elevated as an administrative template.
Rather, an inclusive and equitable approach has been adopted in managing the diverse personnel pool of the Institute with fairness, gender inclusiveness and competence driving decision-making.
"With a total staff strength of 877 personnel, 400 are from Plateau State with 161 coming from Jos South LGA being the extended host community. The 35 other states and FCT share the remaining 477 staff in post," it said.
