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Tag: Kemi Adeosun

  • Why i didn’t present NYSC certificate – Communication Minister

    Minister of Communication, Adebayo Shittu said on Friday that he never presented any NYSC discharge certificate during his screening by the National Assembly because he never had any, stressing that he has not breached any law by skipping national service.

    The Minister who spoke with newsmen at the private office of the National Chairman of the APC, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole where the screening of governorship aspirants is taking place said his case of not having a discharge certificate was different from that of former Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun.

    Shittu acknowledged that he never went for the mandatory national youth service after his graduation from the Nigeria Law School in 1979, adding that he simply followed the law and considered his election into the State house of Assembly as part of national service.

    He said: “Nigerian Tribune even reported that I left university in 1979 but in actual sense , I left in 1978 and left law school in 1979 and the constitution says anyone who qualifies to contest an election or who has gone through an election and wins, he is obligated to move through the house of assembly which I did for four years, so it is a form of higher service as far as I’m concerned and even now, I am still in service.”

    Read Also: Certificate scandal: Court dismisses case against Adeleke

    Asked whether he not violated any law by not going for national service, he said “I don’t see and I’m not worried. Do you see any worry on my face? I don’t think I’m have infringed any law except someone has a superior argument and prove it.

    Speaking on Kemi Adeosun, he said “there are walls of difference. Unfortunately, Kemi had a fake certificate, I didn’t present any, I didn’t have one. I simply followed the constitutional requirement that if you are qualified to contest an election, it is compulsory for you to serve the nation in the capacity that you won an election”.

    An online newspaper, Premium Times has reported that the Minister did not present himself for service after graduation and is yet to do so till date.

  • Adeosun:  A rather belated exit

    Last Friday, Kemi Adeosun resigned from the government of President Muhammadu Buhari as Minister of Finance over allegation of forged National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) exemption certificate. The story about this forged NYSC exemption certificate broke out in July through a Premium Times report, and since that time there had been intense pressure on her to resign from her ministerial post and in the event of her failure to resign, President Buhari  was asked to sack her. Since the report broke out, nothing was heard from the former minister until her recent action on Friday which I consider to be rather belated if one judges by her background.

    As somebody who grew up into adulthood in United Kingdom, she should know that as a public officer, the only action opened to her in order to maintain her honour was to resign immediately such a serious an infraction on her part was brought out in the public. This is the path of honour usually followed by public officers caught in similar situation in the clime where she grew up.

    For failing to resign in time, the former minister made herself a subject of ridicule in the media. In recent times, people talked less of the good work she was doing in the Ministry of Finance but concentrated on the forged certificate saga. She eventually became a pitiable political football, kicked about by the supporters and opponents of the government. It is a pity that some top government functionaries did not see anything wrong in her presentation of forged NYSC exemption certificate. What mattered to these people who are well learned was the so-called good work she was doing for her fatherland. It is also nauseating for us in this country that most Nigerians view issues of probity and accountability through dim political prism. The praise heaped on the minister after her resignation by the APC spokesman that she showed strength of character and integrity in my view should have been spot on if she had resigned immediately the scandal hit the political airwaves.

    One can only hope that this unfortunate episode would not blight the career of this brilliant technocrat because whatever sympathy one may have for the beleaguered former minister, presentation of a forged certificate is a punishable criminal act. It is unfortunate that her ‘trusted associates’ procured for her a forged certificate signed by an officer that was no longer in the service.

    The resignation of the minister has raised some issues which I shall discuss briefly.

    In her letter or resignation, the former minister said that that she presented the forged certificate to Ogun State legislature when she was being screened for the post of a commissioner in that state in 2011. The same forged certificate was also used for her clearance in the National Assembly when she was screened for the post of a federal minister in 2015.

    These revelations speak volumes about the much-touted efficiency and professionalism of the country’s Department of State Services. This department is the primary domestic intelligence agency in Nigeria and it failed in the duty of authenticating the genuineness of the certificate presented by this lady for the two screenings. This dereliction of by this department has no doubt embarrassed both the Ogun State government and the federal government. The efficiency of this department should not be measured solely by the way the dreaded DSS operatives invade houses of people in commando-like style at night. Ordinary task of authenticating the genuineness of a certificate especially one issued by another government agency should not be a taunting task to a department with such awesome power and facilities like our DSS.  Many people in the country feel that the fear of the DSS operatives is the beginning of wisdom. It does not portray the department in good light that what its operatives fail to discover on two occasions was discovered and brought to light probably by an enterprising investigative reporter of Premium Times.

    One can only hope that the failure of the DSS to verify the authenticity of Mrs Adeosun’s NYSC exemption certificate was not due to political influence. In order for the department to maintain its credibility among Nigerians, the DSS should avoid any government interference in its operations. At present, many opponents of the government feel that some of the actions of the DSS are being influenced by the government.

    One salutary outcome from the resignation of the former minister is that henceforth, any public officer who falls short of the standard required by the office he or she is occupying should not hesitate to resign because this is only path of honour opened to the officer. We used to have this culture in the past but gradually it has been eroded. In the pre-independence Nigeria, we had an example of this culture when in 1955 the late AlhajiAdegokeAdelabu had to resign as Minister of Social Services at the federal level after an inquiry into Ibadan Divisional Council where he was the chairman. In the Obasanjo military administration, the Minister of Finance then was forced to resign as a result of persistent petitions on his fidelity. In the civil service also, there was a notable case of an executive in the Lagos Executive Development Board (LEDB) who was accused of acquiring many plots of land by a member of parliament. This executive had to resign as a result of this accusation in the parliament.

    All the above examples are there for us to follow in order to entrench probity in our public service but unfortunately, people in government allow political considerations to influence their considerations. The cases of Abdul-Rasheed Maina, chairman of the Presidential Task Force on Pension Reforms and that of Professor Usman Yusuf, the boss of National Health Insurance Scheme are sour examples of sordid cover-up of malfeasances perpetrated by public officers. These officers should not be in service by any consideration now. The case of Babachir David Lawal the erstwhile Secretary to the Government of the Federation who was involved in N200 million grass cutting scandal should have been in the same category but for his firing six months after the scandal broke out.

    The resignation of Mrs Kemi Adeosunhas rightly beamed a powerful searchlight on the NYSC service records of some of our top political office holders. These politicians whose names are mentioned in the social media owe it as a duty to Nigerians to place before the public their service records with NYSC. After all, what is good for the goose is also good for the gander. The resignation of Adeosun painful as it, could in the end help to inculcate in our public officers of the need for them to resign when they are found wanting in the offices they hold.

     

    • Professor Lucas writes from Old Bodija, Ibadan.

  • Adeosun and the elephant in the room

    SIR: Former finance minister, Ms Kemi Adeosun, may have been caught out but no one is mentioning the elephant in the room, which is the rather wasteful NYSC programme. NYSC is a waste of time and I wasn’t expecting her to put her fairly successful career on hold for one whole year in order to be able to work in Nigeria. The right thing for her to have done would have being to decline the offer to work in Nigeria as many foreign trained Nigerians have always done.

    Expecting people like Adeosun or other foreign trained Nigerian graduates to reject good job offers in the U.K. or USA or quit their job and return to Nigeria to do a one year wasteful “service” is naive at best and foolish at worst — it is unrealistic and will never happen.

    Now, I wonder how many twenty-something year old Computer Science graduates in the U.K., for example, would be willing to turn down a (£25,000 – £35,000 a year salary) Graduate Software Engineer role from IBM to return to Nigeria to spend one whole year wearing khaki and taking pictures with pretty girls and fine looking men in the first three weeks and then proceed to spend a whole year at an unproductive office filled with very unproductive people, while people their age around the world are working on exciting projects and developing the next big thing. Maybe zero.

    What about very experienced professionals who wish to return to Nigeria to work? How many of them are willing to quit their job to return to Nigeria to waste one year being unproductive when they could have stayed back and carry on their research on how to help find the cure for malaria or cancer or Type II Diabetes?

    Yes, NYSC was a brilliant idea but that was in the 1970s and this 2018. As always, we are too lazy to revisit things and see how they can be updated to reflect modern times.

    Most of our schools’ curricula are still the way the British colonisers left them and not enough has been done to update them to reflect our reality as Africans. Many educated Nigerians, for example, still think Mungo Park discovered the River Niger and kids in the village are still reciting “A is Apple” even though they’ve never seen an apple tree or the fruit before. What happened to “A is for Abuja, Aba or Akara?”

    We need innovation in all areas, including governance. Someone not having an NYSC certificate shouldn’t be a barrier for them to work and contribute to the success of their country. Because something was beneficial in 1970 doesn’t mean it will be in 2018. NYSC needs to be checked again and difficult questions need to be asked: is it still important? And should we be losing great Nigerian first class brains to other countries because of their lack of a mere NYSC certificate?

    Remember, in all of these, the real loser is Nigeria.

     

    • Suleiman Ahmed,

    Watford, UK.

  • Adesina speaks on Ahmed’s status in Finance Ministry

    The Special Adviser to the President on Media and publicity, Femi Adesina, on Wednesday explained the current status of Zainab Ahmed who is currently overseeing the Ministry of Finance.

    Ahmed was named on Friday to oversee the Ministry following the resignation of Kemi Adeosun.

    Fielding questions from journalists on Wednesday after the Federal Executive Council meeting, Adesina said that the statement issued on Friday was very clear as she is overseeing the ministry.

    But he explained that she was treated as the Finance Minister during the FEC meeting.

    Asked to speak on her current status, he said “You know she was minister of state budget and national planning, she will relinquish that or she has relinquished that to go and oversee the finance ministry, so that is her status for now.”

    On whether she is supervising minister or overseeing minister or acting minister of finance, he said “It is a matter of nomenclature, yes but she is overseeing the ministry.

    Asked if she should be addressed as overseer, Adesina said “What you call her is a matter of nomenclature but if she is overseeing the ministry, then she is. But note that she is no longer Minister of State budget and national planning for now until anything contrary happens. But for now, she is in charge of the ministry of finance.

    On whether she can be placed on a substantive position, he said “Well, you know that statement was written in English and that statement says she will oversee the ministry of finance, let’s leave it like that.

    Read Also: Presidency not aware of Eagles’ visit- Adesina

    “I just told you she is no longer minister of state budget and national planning, she will be minister of finance, in fact that was how she was addressed at council.

    “Don’t forget it is also a legal thing, if a minister is going to be appointed there are procedures that is why it is a deployment.” he stated

    Explaining why Ahmed had to relocate to the Finance Ministry, the Minister of Agriculture, Audu Ogbeh, said that all the key finance officials and documents are located in the Ministry of Finance.

    According to him, it will not be easy for her to oversee the Ministry from the Ministry of Budget and National Planning.

  • For Kemi Adeosun!

    SIR: “The beauty of Israel is slain upon thy high places: how are the mighty fallen! Tell it not in Gath, publish it not in the streets of Askelon; lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice, lest the daughters of the uncircumcised triumph. Ye mountains of Gilboa, let there be no dew, neither let there be rain upon you, nor fields of offerings: for there the shield of the mighty is vilely cast away, the shield of Saul, as though he had not been anointed with oil;” (1 Samuel 1: 19- 21.)

    Kemi Adeosun, Nigeria’s former Minister of Finance must have been a very gloomy lady at the moment. She must be wondering how she fell into the hands of immoral associates who through their tainted means produced an illicit exemption letter for her country’s compulsory one year National Youth Service Corps.

    She must have be recounting how she had combated and confronted the political class as a technocrat she is, poised to make a difference in the finance department where she held sway; as against the egocentric drives of our ravenous government officials in their bid to accumulate more wealth; a verdict awaiting posterity.

    Oh, Adeosun! You are a thoroughbred professional; a communicator par excellence in the mould of Professor Yemi Osinbajo and Ibe Kachikwu of this world, in the Buhari led administration. You were an economic driver of the country, one who studiously and passionately fought recession headlong in times of the country’s woes.

    Kemi was a symbolic representation of what powers our women wield in the leadership realm, as I appreciated listening to her analysis each time she mounted the international stage, discussing our economic progress as well as dissecting our retrogression since exiting recession, like they told us.

    Her letter of resignation to President Muhammadu Buhari can best be described as “oration as she took her time to explain how she harmlessly fell into the bad company that now, culminated in her exit from the sensitive ministry.

    Indeed, “many are the affliction of the righteous.”

    Kemi represents the noble society as against the Babachir Lawals of this world who was booted out office recently. She is a respectable Amazon in the mould of Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Obiageli Ezekwesili and Dora Akuniyili who came, saw and smashingly conquered.

    Dear Kemi, Please be assured, as always, of our highest regards and best wishes in your next endeavour.

    • Gwiyi Solomon,

    Enugu.

  • Kemi Adeosun’s resignation, salute to honour, integrity – APC

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) has commended former Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun for taking the part of honour and resigning her appointment when it became obvious that NYSC exemption certificate was not genuine.
    The party said Adeosun’s resignation was a clear indication of the fact that under the Buhari led government of integrity and transparency in the conduct of public affairs, no officer of government with a modicum of questionable conduct or integrity should stay in office.
    In a statement signed by the Acting National Publicity Secretary, Yekini Nabena, the party describe her action as actions of honour, strength of character and integrity.
    The statement reads: “the resignation of Mrs. Kemi Adeosun as Minister of Finance and acceptance of same by President Muhammadu Buhari are actions of honour, strength of character and integrity.
    “The news that the National Youth Service Corp (NYSC) exemption certificate tendered by the former finance minister was not genuine have been well-reported in the media.
    “Like all responsive and responsible governments concerned about the truth and due process, the federal government undertook diligent investigation of the allegation. Now that the report of the investigation is out, the right thing has been done. The honorable minister has taken the path of honour and resigned. We congratulate Mrs. Adeosun for her action.
    “In President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration of integrity and transparency in the conduct of public affairs, no officer of government with a modicum of questionable conduct or integrity should stay in office.
    “In past PDP-led administrations, the country was held down by corrupt and irresponsible public officers who refused to honour invitations of the National Assembly; closed down national airports against perceived political adversaries; bought luxurious bullet-proof vehicles with public funds at inflated prices; locked out National Assembly members, forcing federal lawmakers to climb high barricades in order to assess the legislative chamber.
    “It was these acts of corruption, impunity, irresponsibility and executive rascality that made Nigerians vote in the President Buhari administration in 2015, with its Change mantra to put a stop to such undemocratic practices.
    “We wish Mrs. Adeosun every success in her future endeavors and join President Buhari in appreciating her immense contributions to the stability of the Nigerian economy in the past three and half years.”

  • Adeosun in office despite reported resignation

    Finance Minister, Kemi Adeosun remained in office on Friday amidst reports of her resignation.

    There was anxiety at the ministry as journalists thronged to confirm the authenticity of the alleged resignation.

    At about 12 noon, journalists started trooping into the ministry to confirm the story, but all staff of the minister were seen around her office going about their duties saying that “another round of fake news” was circulating.

    To prove that she was in her office and still on her seat working, her staff did not stop any journalist from coming to the 7th floor where the minister’s office is situated.

    Read Also: So what about Kemi Adeosun’s discharge certificate?

    Though her media aides did not come on record to speak to the press, they allowed journalists to see the Minister’s car port to confirm that she was on seat and has not resigned.

    The confusion over her alleged resignation was heightened by her absence at the Meeting of the Convergence Council of Ministers and Governors of Central Bank of West African Monetary Zone where she was represented by the Permanent Secretary Dr. Mahmood Isa Dutse.

    It was alleged that Kemi Adeosun had resigned under pressure over controversies surrounding her NYSC certificate, but there was no confirmation yet as at the time of this report.

  • NERFUND’s missing N17b: Adeosun, Emefiele, others to face panel

    The House of Representatives is set to summon the Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, Governor of Central Bank (CBN), Godwin Emefiele and the Managing Director of the Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC), Umaru Ibrahim over the collapse of the National Economic Reconstruction Fund (NERFUND).

    Chairman of the Ad hoc Committee on NERFUND, Ayodele Oladimeji said the invitation of the minister and the others became imperative with the discovery that government agencies saddled with the responsibility of disbursing NERFUND’s N17b to Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) became culpable in its collapse.

    Speaking before the panel over the weekend, former acting Managing Director, Baba Maina Gimba revealed that for 11 years when he served as the FUND’s Chief Executive, the federal government released only N2b but his major responsibility was the recovery of the N17b disbursed before his appointment in 2002.

    However, rather than disburse the N2b through the participating banks as prescribed by NERFUND establishment Act of the organisation, it was directly disbursed to beneficiaries through poverty alleviation organisations.

    Over 1000 individuals benefited with some getting as low as N200, 000 across the country.

    The ad hoc Committee wondered how NERFUND, established in 1989 with just an office located in Abuja would recover its loans from the illegal beneficiaries scattered around the country.

    The Committee cited two beneficiaries, a former staff, and another, who was a relation of a former Finance Minister between 1999 and 2007, both got N100m each but refused to repay till date.

    While the Committee asked Gimba the reason behind the jettisoning of the prescription of the law on the method of disbursement, he said the Fund was faced with difficulties getting banks to disburse the fund as most of the participating banks were distressed, while others had collapsed.

    “It was difficult for NERFUND to get any bank to disburse the money, coupled with the fact that there was no governing board for the Fund throughout its life span that can give other directives, so we had to disburse through poverty alleviation agencies,” he recalled.

    The former acting MD also countered saying the Act made no provision for the positions of Executive Director and Managing Director.

    The Committee was also told that the then Federal Ministry of Finance Permanent Secretary, who doubled as the Fund’s chairman presided over the disbursement of the N2b, with the Executive Management team left with endorsement of the list from the Finance Ministry.

    Raising some posers, the Committee queried, “Nigerians have to know why the law was set aside by those who should know. How would the Fund recover its direct loans, (which was against the law) from the beneficiaries scattered all over the country, knowing full well that it has no capacity to embark on such misadventure.”

    “We must find all these out. The House is not averse to the closing down of the operations of NERFUND but we have to know why it collapsed so that we can learn from it. How are we sure that what led to the death of NERFUND is not happening to its successors even as we speak,” Oladimeji stressed.

     

     

  • FEC approves N348.59 billion for Akwanga-Gombe road 

    The Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved N348.59 billion for the road linking Akwanga though Jos to Gombe.

    This was disclosed by the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola.

    He was with the Special Adviser on Media and publicity, Femi Adesina, Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun and the Minister of State for Petroleum, Ibe Kachikwu.

    Read Also:Enugu spends N40bn on road construction in two years

    According to Fashola, the project which will be completed in 48 months, covers 420.6 kilometers.

    He said “FEC approved N348.594 billion contract for the construction of 420.6 kilometers Akwanga-Jos-Bauchi-Gombe road. The project scope is the expansion of the current two-lane highway into a dual carriage way.

    “What is significant about it is that it completes the integration of the north central with the south east and the north east.

    “Council had previously approved the Abuja-Keffi Road and the Akwanga-Lafia-Makurdi Road all in the north central. In May this year, Council had also approved Nineth Mile Enugu to Makurdi road that connects the south east to the north central.

    “That completes the spine of the major movement of agro produce and other related produce. The construction period is 48 months.” he said

    The Council (FEC) also approved N12.104 billion for ecological projects across the country.

    Femi Adesina said that the approval covers twelve projects in the country.

    He listed the states for the projects to include Anambra, Lagos, Oyo, Akwa Ibom, Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Jigawa, Kaduna, Plateau and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

    Kachikwu said that the Council approved the installation of technology monitoring schemes and structures under Petroleum Equalisation Fund (PEF) at a total sum of N17 billion.

    According to him, it is for automated fuel system management and censor network.

    He said “The narrative is that we have all struggled with  this whole subsidy payment and how much is consumed in Nigeria, volumes of products moved out illegally and the whole impact on FAAC accounts.

    “The President has given a very serious mandate that we ought to rein in on this process. The essence of what PEF is doing is that this will enable us track refined petroleum product movement from the point of LC (letter of credit) opening from the vessels that come into Nigeria, up until the point where they are discharged into tanks in Nigeria, and from the tanks into trucks in Nigeria, monitor the trucks till they deliver the products into the storage tanks for the filling stations and they are discharged and sold.

    “So, that will produce a 100 percent wholistic monitoring of this production. For the first time we will be able to tell how much petroleum products we consume in this country. Because, there has been so much going on in terms of the movement of consumption numbers from thirty something million liters a day to 70 million liters to 18 million liters a day during the difficult times.

    “And the challenge the president has given me is to rein that in, let’s know what we consume in reality, let’s know where these products are going and this process will be able to track every truck.

    “So, a typical truck will be licensed with a driver, with a transport company, so if a truck misses, you can find the transporter and the company that takes responsibility.

    “So we expect this to be over a period of three years but we promise that within one year, the real effects of this will begin to show. Obviously you need time to train and to continue to improve the system. We hope that by the time we start doing the 2020 budget in 2019, we would have gotten to a point where a lot of the losses that you are seeing are being tracked and substantially impact will be made in monies that come into the federation accounts.

    “It will help us keep proper data repository of consumption in this country, destruction, data on all trucks that operate, total number of products received, what is sold out of filling stations and it is going to be a collaborative system that involves NNPC, DPR and PPPRA but situate quite frankly in PEF.” he said

    According to him, FEC also approved the revision of contract for the construction of NCMB’s headquarters in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State.

    He said that the project, which was awarded in 2015 at the sum of about N27 billion was on Wednesday revised to N42 billion.

    He said “It is one of the dramatic skyline in Yenagoa and has gone quite substantially far. This reasons for this increase was largely due to foreign exchange variables determinant which was initially about N157 to a dollar but today it is N305 to a dollar and still counting.

    “The whole idea is for contract to be completed. It is a 24 month contract and fairly far gone. We hope that once that is done, NCMB will stop paying rent in the series of buildings that it rented in Yenagoa.

    “But most important, the whole glamour of the south south states during the Vice President visit to the Niger Delta with me and the minister of Niger Delta was largely to see oil companies during foot hold in some of these south south states. The building is larger than what the NCMB needs and already talks are on with AGIP and a few of them who want to position their presence very effectively in some of these areas.

    “If we continue at this pace of construction, Mr. President should be able to commission that building between the end of this year and early next year,” he said.

     

  • FG seeks World Bank’s help to accelerate slow economy

    The federal government has approached the World Bank to leverage on the institution’s global reach and expertise to accelerate the nation’s slow economy.

    Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun made the appeal on Thursday when she received the World Bank’s Vice President for Africa Mr. Hafez Ghanem in her office in Abuja.

    According to Adeosun, “We hope to accelerate the growth and this interaction with the world bank is how do we do that, and how do we leverage on the technical capacity, global reach and wealth of experience to ensure we not only preserve the growth which is quite slow at the moment but to accelerate the growth so that we don’t have boom and burst cycles. We need continues growth.”

    Adeosun commended the World Bank for the projects the institution in involved in in Nigeria “particularly at the subnational government levels with the fiscal transparency and accountability project that the World Bank is helping us with, there are projects in education, health and water that the World Bank is doing which we are excited about.”

    But one area where Nigeria is hoping to make a lot of progress is the power sector reform program, which the finance minister said “is an extremely important program for us as far as GDP growth is concerned because it’s really going to accelerate growth and all the things that we need to do to get the power sector reform programme off the ground, for us it’s our number one priority at the moment.”

    Read Also: World Bank okays $2.1b loan for Nigeria

    Specifically, Nigeria she said will like to draw from the World Bank, assistance to “sort out the challenges in the power sector value chain and leverage on the World Bank, its relationship and its wealth of experience in getting us to move the sector forward.”

    Earlier in his speech, the World bank Vice President, Mr. Hafez Ghanem said  “The world bank’s objective in Africa, is to help Africa grow. If we talk about growth in Africa, we have to think of Nigeria because it is the largest in Africa. So Africa cannot grow unless Nigeria grows, so for us in the World Bank, Nigeria is a very high priority and we want to see how we can support and help the Nigerian economy grow faster and achieve all developmental objectives.”