The Director-General (DG) of the Nigerian Nuclear Regulatory Authority (NNRA) Dr. Yau Usman Idris, is in open, continuous defiance of clear superior directives, while the administration’s troubling silence actively enables executive lawlessness.
The target of this systemic victimization is a highly qualified pioneer staff member Barr. Abdulhadi Attah Abdullahi,a fellow of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in legal affairs, Nigeria and African’s first certified nuclear lawyer, and the agency’s most senior officer after the DG /CEO
The government’s inability to enforce it directives and or refusal to intervene makes it directly responsible for a punitive campaign stretching back several years. Despite the Head of Service approving establishment vacancies and the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources including budgetary provisions, the DG barred this officer and three others from writing the Director-rank promotion examinations in 2020.
Following formal protests and complaints by the NNRA Unions and in an official NNRA correspondence in 2021, a joint committee comprising representatives from the Head of Civil Service, the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, NNRA Unions and NNRA Management investigated the matter. The DG flatly refused to implement the committee’s subsequent 2022 report and recommendations to promote the affected officer and others.
The administrative malice by the DG intensified in 2024 after several meetings on the directives, the Ministry of Petroleum Resources again issued a formal memo directing the DG to establish a Department of International Cooperation and Legal Services among others departments to facilitate and addressed the promotion of the officer, who is the only qualified lawyer for the post. The DG again completely ignored this directive. Even though a legal department was denied in a regulatory agency on the pretext of no vacancy for the most senior legal officer , the officer by virtue of his qualifications and experiences in nuclear and related atomic matters remained eligible to compete for other directorial seats. Instead, the DG bypassed this highly experienced pioneer staff, who is number 2 on the NNRA nominal roll, has worked across all technical departments and handed the Department of Authorization and Enforcement to a newly employed Pharmacy graduate who was promoted prematurely, jumping from AGM to General Manager by completely skipping the Deputy General Manager (DGM) rank. Additionally, the Nuclear Security Center which is supposed to be headed by a director is currently being coordinated by a junior AGM instead of a Director.
Consequently, all sitting Directors at the NNRA are now junior to the victimized legal officer, whose last promotion was in 2016.
The injustice peaked during the 2026 promotion cycles, which coincide with the officer’s mandatory retirement year. After the officer was blocked from entering the examination venue by armed security, the Ministry of Petroleum Resources further intervened in April 2026, ordering the DG via a Memo to promote the officer within a strict two-week deadline. For the upteeth time the DG defiantly refused to comply with this directive. From 2020 to 2026, the DG successfully locked and blocked career developmental growth of the officer and others out of all promotion opportunities.
Under Chapter 10 of the Public Service Rules, defying superior authority constitutes serious misconduct requiring disciplinary action up to dismissal [The Federal Government Public Service Rules (2021)]. Since 2021 to 2026 the Presidency was kept in the know about this executive lawlessness by the DG but sadly no response or action . By remaining silent, the government signals that political appointees are above the law, stripping civil servants of constitutional protections.
The public and stakeholders demand that the Presidency and the Minister of Petroleum Resources (Oil) take immediate responsibility, break their silence, and enforce the April 2026 directive before the officer’s retirement lapses. The administration must prove its oversight has teeth or accept full blame for the collapse of civil service discipline.
In conclusion, the House Committee on Public Petitions has concluded hearings regarding the long dispute between Barrister Abdulhadi Attah and the Nigerian Nuclear Regulatory Authority (NNRA) management, following the NNRA’s failure to appear. The committee is now preparing its final report, which is expected to contain findings and recommendations determining the next course of action.
