Sexual harassment allegations hit News Agency of Nigeria 

A major scandal has hit the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) following an open letter addressed to the Managing Director, Mr Ali Muhammad Ali. 

Written by Dr Femi Ogunshola, a former employee now based in the United Kingdom, the correspondence details serious allegations of persistent sexual harassment and workplace victimisation against a current female employee.

The letter, which was made public on Ogunshola’s verified Facebook page, calls for an immediate investigation into the mistreatment of Miss Ogunola Folashade Adunni, a graduate working in the agency’s accounts department.

Allegations of targeted victimisation at NAN

According to the open letter, Miss Ogunola served with NAN during her National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) year from March 2019 to March 2020. Due to her performance, her stay was prolonged as a casual worker for nearly four years.

The crisis allegedly escalated during a recent exercise aimed at regularising casual staff into permanent roles. 

While other casual workers with similar or lesser tenures were placed on Grade Level 9, Miss Ogunola was reportedly assigned to Grade Level 5, Step 2—a rank typically reserved for holders of secondary school certificates, despite her holding a university degree in accounting.

Dr Ogunshola alleges that this unfair placement was a punitive measure orchestrated by a senior official involved in the recruitment process, whose personal advances Miss Ogunola had repeatedly rejected.

“Before now, I got wind of the fact that Miss Ogunola had been subjected to persistent and unwelcome personal advances by an official connected with the recruitment process,” Dr Ogunshola wrote. “It has further been alleged that after repeatedly rejecting those advances, decisions affecting her employment were influenced to her detriment.”

Internal appeals yield no results

The letter indicates that multiple attempts were made to resolve the matter internally before going public. 

Dr Ogunshola stated that he reached out to the Managing Director’s Personal Assistant, Mr Abdulhadi Khaliel, but was told that the placement was a matter of “destiny” and could be adjusted in the future.

Furthermore, the agency’s Editor-in-Chief reportedly tried to intervene by asking the administration to review the decision or swap Miss Ogunola into a vacant position left by another applicant, but these requests were turned down. 

Ogunshola also noted that he attempted to contact Mr Bayo Onanuga, the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy and a former NAN Managing Director, to escalate the issue.

A call for leadership accountability

Dr Ogunshola emphasised that Miss Ogunola did not request the writing of the letter and may face professional backlash because of it. However, he urged Mr Ali Muhammad Ali to take decisive action to protect the agency’s historical institutional integrity.

The letter concludes with a direct appeal to the Managing Director to review the recruitment anomalies objectively, reverse the alleged victimisation, and ensure that public service guidelines govern employment terms rather than personal grievances.

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