Staff of the crisis-ridden Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC) have renewed their call for the sack of the agency’s embattled Executive Secretary, Ms. Saratu Umar. A statement by the NIPC Staff Union issued late yesterday in Abuja and made available to News Express appealed to President Goodluck Jonathan to remove Ms. Umar before he hands over to the incoming administration of Muhammadu Buhari on May 29.

“We therefore renew our call for her immediate sack as any extra day she spends in the NIPC undermines the activities of the Commission and reverses the gains of Government in its bid to diversify the economy using private capital,” the union said in the statement signed by its Chairman, Ahmad Isah Ghondi.

The statement, a rejoinder on the alleged fraudulent grant of waivers by the NIPC, berated the Executive secretary for allegedly leaking a letter from Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, to the press. It reads thus:

“The attention of the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC) Staff Union, an affiliate of the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria, has been drawn to a recent publication in ThisDay Newspaper of Sunday May 10, 2015 and Daily Post of the same day purportedly credited to the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy. The Union is constrained to draw the attention of the public to the fact that the publication is the height of executive irresponsibility at this time when the current embattled Executive Secretary of the Commission, Ms. Saratu Umar, has been having a running battle with 98% of staff in the Commission on account of her dictatorial style of leadership and incompetence.

“It appears the current Executive Secretary has taken the staff agitation for her removal to a desperate point of dragging the outgoing administration of President Goodluck Jonathan to the mud by whipping up sentiments in the media at this critical time when the Nation is undergoing transition.

“The leakage of the letter by the Minister of Finance sent directly to the Executive Secretary of NIPC on August 12, 2014 and which has been in her custody, smacks of an act of irresponsibility and immaturity. This is especially so in light of the fact that the Honorable Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment had since August 12, 2014 directed the ES to comment on the letter but up till the time of writing this statement, she is yet to dignify the Minister’s directive with a response.

“While it is true that the Minister of Finance had made inquiries and some observations on the administration of the Pioneer Status incentive in August 2014, it is important to state that all the issues raised in the said letter had since been clarified to the satisfaction of Government. The letter represented a misinterpretation of the various policies and legal framework on the administration of pioneer status and the matter has since been settled.

“The decision to leak this belated correspondence of August 12, 2014 to the press is again a demonstration of incompetence, insensitivity and immaturity. For one in a highly placed position not to realise the weighty implications of the publication especially the effect on Nigerian companies that have achieved international feat by listing on the Nigerian and London Stock Exchange. Moreover, the negative effect on prospective companies is damaging and better imagined.

“This action has once again proved that the current Chief Executive of NIPC is incapable of presiding over an economic Agency such as NIPC, or any other Agency of Government for that matter. This is more so when considered against the backdrop of the fact that the NIPC Act envisages Officers not below the rank of Federal Permanent Secretaries to be members of its Council. Meanwhile, Ms. Saratu Umar, who was sacked from NEXIM Bank as an Assistant Manager (equivalent to the position of Assistant Director) on account of incompetence and low performance, suddenly found herself as Chief Executive of NIPC at par with Federal Permanent Secretaries.

“We therefore renew our call for her immediate sack as any extra day she spends in the NIPC undermines the activities of the Commission and reverses the gains of Government in its bid to diversify the economy using private capital.

“We also advise the incoming Government not to be hoodwinked by Saratu Umar’s antics and desperation.”

•Photo shows Saratu Umar.

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