Docemo incurs Sanwo-Olu’s wrath as governor orders reversal of 92 illegally employed staff

The Managing Director of Lagos State Signage and Advertisement Agency (LASAA), Mr. Adedamo Docemo is under fire from both the state governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu who is getting tired of his sloppy leadership style, and the disillusioned staff of the agency who see him as incompetent and opportunistic.

LAGOS STREET JOURNAL was reliably informed that Docemo’s leadership misgivings came to a hilt last week when the governor discovered that Docemo, without his authorization as governor and against all shades of management sense, especially in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, had illegally employed 92 staff into the agency.

A reliable source informed that the governor ordered him to immediately discard these illegally employed 92 workers.

The governor’s matching order was carried out on Monday by Docemo as he issued them letters suspending their employment with the agency.

As gathered, Docemo illegally employed additional 92 workers without Sanwo-Olu’s approval, putting serious heavy toll on the payroll of the agency at a time the state is battling with dwindling revenue as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The journal’s source revealed that Sanwo-Olu also threatened to remove Docemo because his incompetence and maladministration and lack of managerial skill have become unbearable embarrassment to him and his government.

It was gathered that the governor had early last week suspended him but for some people who begged the governor to pardon him.

“It is disheartening to note that in last one year, under this debilitating economy condition caused by an outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic and the brutal effect of EndSARS protest, a head of a government agency, could still thoughtlessly engage in an illegal hiring of an irrational additional new 92 staff.

This has shocked the governor because the wage bill of the agency has skyrocketed to the extent that the sustenance of the agency has become an embarrassment to the government. That is why governor Sanwo-Olu ordered the immediate disengagement of the 92 new staff that Docemo illegally employed,” the source said.

Some of the affected staff members, whose sack letters were prepared and handed over to on Monday, also threatened to take the agency to the court, claiming that their employment cannot be indefinitely suspended without justifiable reasons by Docemo since they were duly employed by the agency.

Some sources within the agency said they were surprised when the MD, barely a year in the agency, started to take brash and detrimental decisions that might stagnate the progress of the agency.

From investigation, it was discovered that Docemo’s predecessors never took decisions bordering on finance and employment without consulting the governor.

The sources further told our correspondent that Docemo has not done anything worthy since he took over from his predecessor who was never given capital votes but generated revenue to run the agency.

Investigation revealed that Docemo got the appointment as LASAA MD not because he distinguished himself from any career or educational attainment, he got it not on merit but because of his acquaintance with Mr Yemisi Olusanya, the only maternal half brother of governor Sanwo-Olu.

According to the sources, Docemo did not merit the position based on his records.
It was gathered that he was a former staff member of the agency but left in questionable circumstances after facing an administrative panel. The same suspicious way he left E-Motion Advertising Company where he worked after his exit from LASAA.

The sources, who spoke to our correspondent on anonymity, explained that some of the senior staff members at LASAA were surprised to see Docemo, with his unpalatable records, being appointed by governor Sanwo-Olu to succeed Barrister Mobolaji Sanusi who was confirmed to have tirelessly worked to reposition the agency to becoming an enviable institution in the state.

The sources further said that Docemo is the only MD of the agency without a university degree(s). They explained that many of the former MDs including Makanjuola Alabi, Tunji Bello, the current Lagos State Commissioner for Environment and Mobolaji Sanusi are lawyers with track records of managerial experience. Mr George Noah is also a political scientist.

“In fact, Docemo is a square peg in a round hole. He has no capability or capacity to run the agency. He had not run any organization successfully before. We were surprised to see him being appointed by governor Sanwoolu as the MD of this agency.

He has been doing so many things without the approval of the governor which could affect the running of the agency and dent the image of government. How will he employ new 92 staff members without informing the governor during this worsening economic situation? It shows his inexperience, poor sense of managerial judgement and his lack of possession of requisite requirements to run a government regulatory agency like LASAA” the sources stated.

“His predecessor, Sanusi had positioned the agency in the right pedestal, managing it well even without getting the requisite support from the state government for over four years.

“We knew what Sanusi achieved within one year of his tenure, Docemo, in his one year, has nothing to show than frivolities, engaging in what a regulatory agency should not be seen to be doing. He spent millions of naira on Christmas carol and Award nights not minding the welfare of staff members as he denied them the bonuses they were supposed to get at the End of the Year. He employed new staff on scandalous grade levels, paying them commensurate salaries while shamefully denying old promoted staff the benefit of salaries that are commensurate with their new grade levels, killing staff moral in the process.”

“His maladministration and misdirection of funds revealed his lack of the required experience and competence to run the agency. The governor has discovered this now and has threatened to fire him. The illegal employment is one of his sins which the governor cannot condone.”

Another source within the agency who also spoke on anonymity further disclosed that Docemo is being supported and misled by a high government official saddled with supervising him for personal gains but to the disadvantage of the state.

A further investigation revealed that when Docemo came on board, he complained to the governor that the agency needed a generator, a request which the governor approved for him but he cleverly in his request letter to the governor did not specify that his predecessor, Sanusi, had made an advance payment of N5million to Jubaili Bros Generator for a supply of a generating set by 2019 December ending when the balance of five million naira was to be paid for the generator to be delivered.

After the governor’s approval, Docemo later collected the advance money of N5million from the company and lavished it on renovation of his office area.

This action attracted the ire of staff members.

Docemo, to some stakeholders in the state, if not replaced may completely destroy the gains and mileage secured by the agency in the last few years before his appointment.

To the stakeholders, Docemo’s appointment was a mistake that governor Sanwo-Olu needs to correct as they believed that he is only interested in what to gain from the agency and the state.

“The agency is too big for a struggling practitioner that Docemo was before his sudden flight into the position of MD of the agency. Otherwise, governor Sanwo-Olu should be prepared for more lurid deeds from Docemo,” they said.