President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday bowed to pressures from his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), by sacking 26 Chief Executive Officers of parastatals, agencies and commissions of the Federal Government.
All the sacked heads of the federal agencies were appointees of former President Goodluck Jonathan. Buhari asked the affected officials to vacate their seats 26 heads of federal agencies, parastatals removedwith immediate effect and hand over their responsibilities to the most senior officers in their respective establishments.
Many of those who lost their jobs were appointed by the immediate past Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) administration and a good number of them were said to have secretly funded the 2015 electioneering, especially the presidential poll.
Prominent among those relieved of their appointments were the heads of the six information-related parastatals under the Ministry of Information and Culture. They include the Director-General (DG) of Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), Mr. Sola Omole; the DG of Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN), Mr. Ladan Salihu; DG of Voice of Nigeria (VON), Mr. Sam Worlu; DG, News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Mr. Ima Niboro; DG, Nigerian Broadcasting Commission (NBC), Mr. Emeka Mba and the DG, National Orientation Agency (NOA), Mr. Mike Omeri.
The NTA, FRCN, VON, NAN, NBC and NOA are key agencies through which the Federal Government dishes out information about its policies and programmes. In recent months, there has been an agitation by some top notchers of the APC that such vital organs of managing information about the Buhari administration should not be manned by persons appointed by the PDP administration.
According to the circular signed by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir David Lawal, an engineer, other heads of agencies sacked were the Executive Secretary, Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA); Director General, Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON); Director Agencies AffectedGeneral, National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Dr. Paul Orhi; Director General of the Nigeria Investment Promotion Council (NIPC), Uju Hassan-Baba; Managing Director, Bank of In-dustry (BoI), Mr. Olaoluwa Rasheed; Director General, National Centre for Women Development (NCWD), Onyeka Onwenu; Director General, Industrial Training Fund (ITF), Mrs. Juliet Chukas Onaeko; Managing Director, Nigerian Export-Import Bank, Mr. Roberts U. Orya, DG, Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), Mr. Michael Odumodu and Director General of the National Agency for Prohibition of Traffic In Persons and Other Related Matters (NAPTIP), Mrs. Beatrice Jedy Agba.
Others affected included the Executive Secretary of the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF), Mr. Olufemi Ajayi; Special Adviser to the President on New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD); Director General, Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF), Umar Munir Abubakar and the Executive Secretary, Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB).
Others affected included the Managing Director of the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN), Mr. Gimba Ya’u Kumo; Executive Secretary, Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), Prof. Suleiman Bogoro; Director General, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Peter Jack; Executive Secretary, Petroleum Equalization Fund; Managing Director, Nigeria Railways Corporation (NRC), Prince Adeseyi Sijuade; Director General, Bureau of Public Procurements (BPP), Engr. Emeka Eze, and his counterpart in the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Benjamin Dikki.
New Telegraph gathered that their sack did not come as a surprise because some APC leaders had openly complained that the PDP appointees were still holding strategic positions in the present administration while many of them who worked for the victory of the ruling party had been left in the lurch more than eight months after the PDP was swept out of power.
New Telegraph learnt that the agencies under the Ministry of Information allegedly blacked out the APC during the 2015 election campaigns.
There have been a series of petitions against some of the affected officers bordering on disloyalty or sabotage, financial impropriety and other misdemeanours.
It was also gathered that some cabinet ministers had complained to President Buhari about the continued retention of these officials of the past administration, alleging that some of the heads of the parastatals were frustrating their efforts through leakage of official documents to persons outside the government.
The presence of officials who apparently worked against the emergence of the APC, the ministers said, meant that there would be no privacy as these persons could pass on sensitive information to the opposition party.
There are strong indications that more heads will roll in the coming days as Buhari and the APC move to further consolidate on the power they won eight months ago.
Already, APC leaders have submitted a list of nominees for federal appointments. It could be recalled that the Federal Government had, on Saturday, sacked the Vice Chancellors of 13 universities and appointed their replacements immediately.
All the sacked heads of the federal agencies were appointees of former President Goodluck Jonathan. Buhari asked the affected officials to vacate their seats 26 heads of federal agencies, parastatals removedwith immediate effect and hand over their responsibilities to the most senior officers in their respective establishments.
Many of those who lost their jobs were appointed by the immediate past Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) administration and a good number of them were said to have secretly funded the 2015 electioneering, especially the presidential poll.
The NTA, FRCN, VON, NAN, NBC and NOA are key agencies through which the Federal Government dishes out information about its policies and programmes. In recent months, there has been an agitation by some top notchers of the APC that such vital organs of managing information about the Buhari administration should not be manned by persons appointed by the PDP administration.
According to the circular signed by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir David Lawal, an engineer, other heads of agencies sacked were the Executive Secretary, Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA); Director General, Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON); Director Agencies AffectedGeneral, National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Dr. Paul Orhi; Director General of the Nigeria Investment Promotion Council (NIPC), Uju Hassan-Baba; Managing Director, Bank of In-dustry (BoI), Mr. Olaoluwa Rasheed; Director General, National Centre for Women Development (NCWD), Onyeka Onwenu; Director General, Industrial Training Fund (ITF), Mrs. Juliet Chukas Onaeko; Managing Director, Nigerian Export-Import Bank, Mr. Roberts U. Orya, DG, Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), Mr. Michael Odumodu and Director General of the National Agency for Prohibition of Traffic In Persons and Other Related Matters (NAPTIP), Mrs. Beatrice Jedy Agba.
Others affected included the Executive Secretary of the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF), Mr. Olufemi Ajayi; Special Adviser to the President on New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD); Director General, Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF), Umar Munir Abubakar and the Executive Secretary, Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB).
Others affected included the Managing Director of the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN), Mr. Gimba Ya’u Kumo; Executive Secretary, Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), Prof. Suleiman Bogoro; Director General, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Peter Jack; Executive Secretary, Petroleum Equalization Fund; Managing Director, Nigeria Railways Corporation (NRC), Prince Adeseyi Sijuade; Director General, Bureau of Public Procurements (BPP), Engr. Emeka Eze, and his counterpart in the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Benjamin Dikki.
New Telegraph gathered that their sack did not come as a surprise because some APC leaders had openly complained that the PDP appointees were still holding strategic positions in the present administration while many of them who worked for the victory of the ruling party had been left in the lurch more than eight months after the PDP was swept out of power.
New Telegraph learnt that the agencies under the Ministry of Information allegedly blacked out the APC during the 2015 election campaigns.
There have been a series of petitions against some of the affected officers bordering on disloyalty or sabotage, financial impropriety and other misdemeanours.
It was also gathered that some cabinet ministers had complained to President Buhari about the continued retention of these officials of the past administration, alleging that some of the heads of the parastatals were frustrating their efforts through leakage of official documents to persons outside the government.
The presence of officials who apparently worked against the emergence of the APC, the ministers said, meant that there would be no privacy as these persons could pass on sensitive information to the opposition party.
There are strong indications that more heads will roll in the coming days as Buhari and the APC move to further consolidate on the power they won eight months ago.
Already, APC leaders have submitted a list of nominees for federal appointments. It could be recalled that the Federal Government had, on Saturday, sacked the Vice Chancellors of 13 universities and appointed their replacements immediately.
20:40:00
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