A group, Concerned Nigerians for Accountability and Good Governance, has called on President Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu to caution his son, his Chief of Staff, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, and other close aides against betraying the nation by accepting alleged bribe of over ₦4billion from a Managing Director, afraid of being sacked, following the dissolution of members of his agency’s governing board.
According to the group, investigations revealed that millions of dollars more are allegedly being gathered by the Managing Directors and Chief Executive Officers of dissolved boards in Government agencies and parastatals in order to secure their exemption from any planned sack.
According to the group, “President Tinubu started on a good note and many Nigerians welcomed the removal of fuel subsidy; the national savings of over ₦400billion in Four weeks due to the subsidy removal, the dissolution of the boards of MDAs were all welcomed development,”
They however expressed misgivings and disappointments over the indecision by President Tinubu to remove the old Managing Directors and Chief Executive Officers of dissolved Government agencies and parastatals; thus giving them more powers to act as Sole Administrators with no accountability, and the alleged attempts to bribe key members of the President’s family and close aides to secure their stay in office despite not being supportive of the President during his Presidential campaign.
They claimed such actions are against the yearnings and aspirations of the country to block waste and fraud in government spending and hold past officials accountable.
The National Coordinator of the group, Comrade Olalekan Olamide Ademola in a statement issued via electronic mail, argued that President Tinubu should immediately dissolve the Managing Directors and Chief Executive Officers of these agencies to depart with their board members of agencies such as the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), the North-East Development Commission, the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), and other agencies to allow the most qualified civil servant directors to take over the affairs of these agencies until the President constitutes a full governing board.
According to Ademola, reports of preliminary investigations conducted by the group showed that the information about governing boards dissolution was allegedly leaked before the official announcement which allegedly gave room for bribery and corruption, and “by the following week, these old Managing Directors and Chief Executive Officers were exempted from dissolution despite being confirmed by the Senate at the same time with the governing board as one-body. This has never happened throughout our nation’s history.”
“Mr. President, do not be misled by family members and politicians who are advising you to continue to retain these old managing directors and CEOs that you never appointed. All these Managing Directors and CEOs are carryovers from the previous administration. Every hour that goes by with these CEOs in office, Nigeria is losing billions of naira in alleged fraudulent contract payments because they know that their time is short, therefore we call on you Mr. President to dissolve them as the MDs and CEOs are lobbying and struggling to have closed door meetings with your aides to compromise them.”
