It was a gale of sack by the Nigerian government on Monday in what has now been termed the Muhammadu Buhari Tsunami.
However, Huhuonline.com has learnt that most of the agencies and parastatals whose heads were fired were either involved in corruption during the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan or involved in the padding of the 2016 budget which has caused national embarrassment.
Buhari had recently ordered an investigation into the padding of the budget after various revelations and excesses were discovered by the National Assembly currently looking into the budget for passage.
As stated last night by Engr. Babachir David Lawal, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, “the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari has approved the immediate disengagement of the following Chief Executive Officers of the under-listed Parastatals, Agencies and Commissions.
“He has also approved that the most senior officers in the Parastatals, Agencies and Councils oversee the activities of the organisations pending the appointment of substantive Chief Executive Officers.”
Those sacked were:
(i) Nigerian Television Authority (NTA)
(ii) Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN)
(iii) Voice of Nigeria (VON)
(iiii) News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)
(v) National Broadcasting Commission (NBC)
(vi) Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF)
(vii) New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD)
(viii) Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF)
(ix) Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board(NCDMB)
(x) Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN)
(xi) Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund)
(xii) National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA)
(xiii) Petroleum Equalization Fund
(xiiii) Nigeria Railways Corporation (NRC)
(xv) Bureau of Public Procurements (BPP)
(xvi) Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE)
(xvii) Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA)
(xviii) Standard Organization of Nigeria (SON)
(xix) National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC)
(xx) Nigeria Investment Promotion Council (NIPC)
(xxi) Bank of Industry (BoI)
(xxii) National Centre for Women Development (NCWD)
(xxiii) National Orientation Agency (NOA)
(xxiiii) Industrial Training Fund (ITF)
(xxv) Nigerian Export-Import Bank
(xxvi) National Agency for Prohibition of Traffic In Persons and Other Related Matters (NAPTIP)
Many of them were said to have been shocked by the announcement of their sack, especially as they were already getting comfortable that the President’s hammer would no longer fall on them having been appointed by previous administration.
But a source privy to the mass sack told our correspondent that Buhari’s action was in anger at the embarrassment caused his government in the padding of the 2016 budget.
“Don’t forget that before now, some of these heads of agencies and parastatals were being investigated for various corrupt acts in office. Some were also fired for their non-nonchalance.
“Even Lai Mohammed had set up a committee to look into issues in the federal-owned radio stations because of some non-palatable issues and impunity with which some heads of them operated,” he said.
“There is this particular woman among them who donated the sum of N700 million to presidential campaign of the Peoples Democratic Party in 2015 while another furnished his office with N800 million.
“Many of them also engaged in sleaze, increasing contract sums and stealing government properties. It is a whole of crimes which would be exposed in the next few days,” the source said.
Recall how some ministers got the shock of their lives during the budget defence recently. While the National Assembly discovered a N10 billion increase in the budget for the Ministry of Education, a committee of the senate also found the inflation of the sum for the procurement of computers for NAN which is under the Ministry of Information. The Minister of Health also denied the budget for his ministry.
The source said in the coming days, some of the sacked heads of parastatals would be arrested and tried by the anti-graft agencies in the country.
