Nigeria’s policy think tank, the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), has said a petition sent to President Bola Tinubu by one of the participants of its Senior Executive Course (SEC) 47 is “counterproductive.”
In a statement sent to PREMIUM TIMES on Sunday, the national institute said it will not subject itself to “blackmail by a candidate that refuses to obey simple rules and regulations.”
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This newspaper reported on Sunday that a renowned Nigerian public relations practitioner, Yushau Shuaib, petitioned President Bola Tinubu over what he described as “unjust, humiliating, and deeply distressing” treatment at NIPSS, where he was suspended from the SEC 47 allegedly over harmless articles supporting the president’s Digital and Blue Economy agenda.
In the petition titled “Unjust Treatment at NIPSS Over Articles Supporting Digital and Blue Economy Reforms,” Mr Shuaib, founder of PRNigeria, accused the institute of harassment, cyberbullying, and professional ostracisation, despite his full compliance with institutional guidelines and ethical publishing practices.
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Mr Shuaib said that following his suspension on 2 May, he was asked to vacate the NIPSS premises immediately. In his appeal to Mr Tinubu, Mr Shuaib urged an independent investigation into the disciplinary process and alleged cyber-privacy violations and a review of his suspension and exclusion.
He also criticised what he described as the excessive militarisation of the academic environment at NIPSS.
However, in a swift response on Sunday, NIPSS’ Head of Public Affairs Department, Sola Adeyanju, countered Mr Shuaib, saying his case is that of someone who would not allow himself to be subjected to constituted authorities in the institute.
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“One of the cardinal rules of the National Institute is to keep whatever is discussed within, particularly during plenary, confidential. This is a rule that all participants have signed to uphold. It is modelled along the Chatham House Rule,” the think tank said, adding that the essence is to give all its resource persons the freedom of intellectual and academic independence to speak their minds.
On 21 March, PRNigeria, Mr Shuaib’s platform, published a story titled “NIPSS Goes Digital,” but was neither authored nor edited by Mr Shuaib. The article commended the institute’s transition to a paperless system and highlighted its alignment with the federal government’s digital transformation agenda.
NIPSS noted that Mr Shuaib violated their rule by publishing what transpired in the institute. “Whatever will be published should be after the course is concluded,” the policy institute said.
“Mr Shuaib knows very well that he signed the document where he promised to abide by this rule. Upon violation, he was queried and he responded by apologising. Thereafter, he was warned that it should never happen again. However, it did not take Mr Yushau long before re-violating the same rule he was warned about.”
On 25 April, Mr Shuaib authored an article titled “Understanding the ‘Blue’ in the Blue Economy: A PR Perspective.” The article was an appraisal of the federal government’s Marine and Blue Economy agenda from a Public Relations standpoint. Mr Shuaib commended the president’s reforms of the new ministry.
However, the publication led to Mr Shuaib receiving another query, less than two months after the first. “He actually got it wrong by insinuating that he meant well,” the institute said, dismissing Mr Shuaib’s defence that the article was published to support the president. “The truth is, the content is immaterial, the act of publishing when you are not supposed to is what matters,” NIPSS said.
The institute added that Mr Shuaib published the said article on the “theme of the study given to the Senior Executive Participants of SEC 47, 2025, and NIPSS,” which he belonged to, using his by-line.
“The study is still ongoing and should not, by any imagination, be published, in part or full, until the Course is over. This is in flagrant violation of the rules for which he was appropriately queried for the second time.
“However, instead of replying to the query accordingly, Mr Shuaib threw caution to the wind and decided to lecture and threaten the National Institute on the inappropriateness of issuing him a query,” the research institute said.
“This he did in bad faith. Let us reiterate that the cheap blackmail of saying the content was to support Mr President on his agenda cannot hold. We are all working towards the success of Mr President, as exemplified in the many detailed research and other activities of the Institute being submitted to Mr President from time to time.”
Suspension
On 2 May, NIPSS said it served Mr Shuaib with a suspension for six weeks after receiving the second query for the same offence.
“He was still serving the suspension when he sent a letter of complaint to the Daily Trust newspaper, insinuating bullying.
“We need to stress here that all we asked Mr Shuaib to do is obey laid down rules and regulations and this is not tantamount to bullying in whatever way. The newspaper did a story on this and the Director General gave a detailed response. As if that was not enough, his case is still being considered, as he has been invited by the Disciplinary Committee set up by the Management to look into his case and give him a fair hearing when he decided to publish (again) a petition meant for Mr President in the media,” the institute said.
Mr Shuaib told an internal investigative committee — convened after his suspension—that while NIPSS’s Terms of Undertaking emphasise confidentiality, they do not define what qualifies as public, restricted, or classified information, nor do they include a communication policy to guide media engagement.
“All my articles were based on publicly available national discourse and never revealed internal NIPSS content,” he said.
In its official response to PREMIUM TIMES, NIPSS also accused Mr Shuaib of using his affiliation with the media for a negative cause.
“Contrary to his claims, he is actually trying to denigrate the very National think tank, which is the pride of Nigeria, for his selfish end.”
Mr Shuaib was nominated by the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations NIPR to participate in the SEC 47 Course.
“That Mr Shuaib nomination came from the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations, NIPR (an organisation we are all proud of) speaks volume. He has not demonstrated the very tenet of public relations, as he has not only let himself down professionally, he has let his nominating agency down,” NIPSS said.
“We are looking for leaders with emotional intelligence, not one that will betray his or her temperament when faced with issues of discipline.”
“Without prejudice to the outcome of his letter to Mr President, let it be on record that the NIPR has also set up a panel of inquiry to look into his case.”
Sanctions on other participants
Aside from Mr Shuaib, PREMIUM TIMES learnt that three other participants in SEC 47 also reportedly faced disproportionate sanctions.
One was queried for commending infrastructural initiatives of Governor Caleb Muftwang of Plateau state during a vote of thanks in Jos. Another was punished for arriving late after a family emergency, and a third for representing NIPSS in an external engagement.
READ ALSO; NIPSS suspends participant after his article supporting Tinubu administration’s reforms
NIPSS didn’t respond to queries on other participants. Instead, it said, “The questions Mr Shuaib should ask himself are; how many participants are in his Course and how many of them have been queried twice within two months.”
“For the benefit of doubt, there are 96 of them and he is the only one who has gotten two queries. We leave this to the general public to judge.”
In concluding its statement, NIPSS said the disciplinary committee set up to look into Mr Shuaib’s case has submitted its report to the management and the six weeks suspension has not lapsed.
“So we await the verdict of the Management on his case, until then we want to thank all our media organisations for holding on to the truth.”
The National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies is a policy institute with the mandate to train top decision and policy makers in Nigeria, in both public and private sectors. It also has the mandate to make sure that it builds “leaders worth their salt” in all ramifications and those who are able to take effective decisions in their various offices and organisations for national development.
“In doing this, it has set some parameters along the lines of discipline, time management, emotional intelligence, respect for rules and regulations, respect for other people’s rights, and many more.
“The National Institute, in line with the dreams of its founding fathers, many of whom are still alive, will not reduce the standard of producing decent, courteous, sound and effective leaders for the country.”
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