THE Senate has thrown its weight behind the suspension of the Director General of Nigerian Information Technology Development Agency, NITDA, Mr. Peter Jack, by the Minister of Communications, Mr. Adebayo Shittu, over alleged employment and contract scams.

Reacting to the development, Vice Chairman of Senate Committee on Communications, Senator Solomon Adeola, APC, Lagos West, said the director-general must be further investigated for the period he had held the position as head of the information technology development agency. He noted that doing otherwise might lead to total mess up of the agency established by the NITDA Act of 2007.

Adeola said Jack refused to answer to audit queries issued by the Auditor-General of the Federation, AuGF, in performance of his constitutional duties as the audit-general, adding that the non-response to such queries raised serious questions about the integrity of the DG as a public officer.

He said: “What most commentators and groups demanding reversal of the suspension do not know is that the issue goes beyond employment racketeering and breach of procurement processes. “It also involves the issue of implementation of the constituency projects of legislators at the National Assembly as well as flagrant disobedience to legitimate directives of his supervising ministry in contravention of Section 31 of NITDA Act.”

Adeola in a statement signed, yesterday, by his Media Adviser, Kayode Odunaro, said it was only after a thorough investigation of the agency under the leadership of the incumbent director-general that a determination could be made on rescinding the suspension or relieving him of his position. He stressed that doing otherwise would definitely imperil the government’s well intentioned policy on information technology development in Nigeria.