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| Probity At Last...or Same..ol'...Same ol' Vicious Cycle? |
| Health ministers resign over N300m scam By Niyi Odebode, Ihuoma Chiedozie and Victor Sam Published: Wednesday, 26 Mar 2008 Eminent professor of paediatrics, Mrs. Adenike Grange, made an emotional exit from the federal cabinet on Tuesday after just nine months as Minister of Health. Grange and the Minister of State for Health, Mr. Gabriel Aduku, emerged from a prolonged meeting with President Umaru Yar’Adua at State House, Abuja, and shortly after the authorities said The Presidency had accepted their resignations. Both former ministers were believed to be the first casualties in the reported case of unauthorised spending allegedly made in the Ministry of Health from the unspent funds from the 2007 budget. Our correspondents at the State House reported that the duo left the President’s office at 3.07pm and while Aduku put on a brave front, Grange was visibly distraught and fought back tears. Both were under investigation by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission over the sum of N300m that was allegedly misapplied by health ministry officials. It was learnt on Tuesday that both ex-ministers will be subjected to fresh interrogations today (Wednesday) by the EFCC. Grange and Aduku declined to speak to newsmen who sought to obtain comments from them as they moved along the State House corridor. At a stage, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Ambassador Baba-Gana Kingibe, intervened to rescue the forlorn ex-ministers from journalists. He said, “This is insensitive, just leave it (the interview). Leave it please, this is inhuman.” But the 67-year-old Grange in a statement to journalists on Tuesday evening accepted the responsibility for the “episode” involving the “contracts and welfare packages.” She, however, said that she would not accept blame for the deed. According to the former consultant to various international health bodies, she was leaving the cabinet to return to her unblemished career. The former minister said she saw her “invitation to serve on this cabinet as an opportunity for professionals to join in the extirpation and re-engineering of the whole system to move this great country forward expediently.” She admitted a high level of decay and corruption in the ministry and the Nigerian system. She said although she was not the chief accounting officer to the ministry; “the recent episode involving ‘contracts and welfare packages’ happened under my leadership for which I accept responsibility but not the blame.” Grange, however, said her acceptance of responsibility “should not be misconstrued as an admission of guilty but rather a path of honour for lapses and intrigues under my watch for which I unfortunately was not well versed in.” She added, “I am leaving this cabinet because I consider my dignity, reputation and legacy, values that I have worked hard for and hold dearly. I am returning to my unblemished career which I have assiduously laboured for over the years with resounding success nationally and internationally.” When Grange and Aduku got to the courtyard of the Administrative Wing of the Presidential Villa, they stood and waited for a while for their official vehicles. The cars, two black Toyota Sport Utility vehicles, took them out of the Presidential Villa at exactly 3:15pm. The drama had started unfolding around 2:30pm when the Special Adviser to the President on Communications, Mr. Olusegun Adeniyi, emerged from the President’s office to notify journalists that he was going to address them at 3pm. Adeniyi started his address by saying that he would not take any questions after reading a prepared text. Then came the news that the President had accepted the ministers’ ‘voluntary resignation,’ following charges that they subverted his directive on the return of unspent Budget 2007 funds to the treasury. Adeniyi added that the President had ordered the suspension of 11 top civil servants in the ministry. He disclosed that Yar’Adua had directed the Head of Service, Mrs. Ebele Okeke, to suspend the Permanent Secretary in the health Ministry, Prof. Simon Ogamdi, and the Director of Administration, Dr. D.H. Oyedepo. According to Adeniyi, the two career officers participated in “the subversion of his directive that unspent 2007 budget should be returned to the treasury.” The President also directed the Head of Service to suspend a Chief Accountant, Abdulrahman Ambali, a Principal Administrative Officer, Mr. Donatus Iyang and eight other civil servants. The Minister of Labour, Dr. Hassan Muhammad, is to oversee the affairs of the health ministry until further notice. Already, some top civil servants in the ministry have been questioned by the EFCC over the misused funds. Towards the end of 2007, Yar’Adua had ordered all ministries, departments and agencies of the Federal Government to return all unspent money from the 2007 budget to the federal treasury. Previously, the norm in the ministries was to appropriate the unspent money for personal use under the ploy of ‘Christmas bonus.’ However, reports emerged that in late 2007, top officials in the Ministry of Health allegedly shared a total of N300m from the unspent 2007 budget among themselves. The EFCC began an investigation into the allegation following a tip-off from a disgruntled member of staff who felt her bonus was less than the agreed figure. It was reported that some top officials received as much as N40m, with the share decreasing according to rank. Reacting to the ministers’ resignation, the National President of the Association of Resident Doctors, Dr. Ladipo Adepoju, said it was unfortunate. He described the ministers as people that were committed to repositioning the health sector in the country. Meanwhile, the Nigeria Labour Congress has called on the Federal Government to prosecute Grange and Aduku as well as other officials of the minsitry involved in the scandal. The General Secretary, NLC, Mr. John Odah, who spoke in a telephone interview with our correspondents in Abuja, said it was not enough to ask the suspects to resign. He said, “Our disappointment with the whole process is that these people are currently cloaked in a garment of honour by reports that they had to resign voluntarily. “We commend President Umaru Yar’Adua for getting these people out of his cabinet. “However, for there to be transparency and accountability in the whole process, we urge that those who are found to be culpable should be given drastic treatment.” Odah said the removal of the ministers was only the first step in the bid by the administration to prove that it meant its zero tolerance for corruption stance. “The government must begin the process of getting the former ministers and their accomplices to account for their wrong-doing; that is the only way Nigerians can believe this government is serious about rooting out corruption,” he added. The congress regretted that the Federal Government was slow in getting the ministers to resign, stating that, “We are appalled by what we hear is a common practice in these ministries, and mainly in the Ministry of Health.” Reacting, the Conference of Nigeria Political Parties advised the EFCC to extend its search on other ministries where officials shared unspent portions of the 2007 budget. It said that such corrupt practice was not perpetrated in the Minsitry of Health alone, alleging that other ministries and agencies were also involved. The National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Osita Okechukwu, said this in a telephone interview with our correspondent. |
Written by Olasunkanmi Akoni, Adeyemi
Ogundele, Leon Usigbe & Tordue Salem
Thursday, 27 March 2008
*Okonjo-Iweala, Ezekwesili face
power probe panel
THE Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission (EFCC), yesterday, said it had
commenced investigation into the eight-year
administration of former President Olusegun
Obasanjo.
This followed calls by some Nigerians and
groups for a probe of the administration.
Meanwhile, former ministers — Dr. Ngozi
Okonjo-Iweala and Mrs Obiageli Ezekwesili —
are to appear before the House of
Representatives Committee on Power and
Steel today to say all they know about the
expenditure on the power sector by the
Obasanjo administration.
Announcing the commencemnet of the probe
of the Obasanjo administration,the Head,
General Investigations of the anti-graft
agency, Mr. Sanda Umaru, said: “We are
fighting the same cause. The truth of the
matter is that we are on that issue (probing
Obasanjo administration) at the moment. We
want everyone to know that we are on it and
definitely we will get to where we are going.
Addressing members of the Coalition Against
Corrupt Leaders (CACOL) during a protest at
EFCC office, Ikoyi, Mr Umaru said: “The
difference between the EFCC and CACOL is
that CACOL wants investigation into the
matter to be conducted urgently, while EFCC,
by the nature of its job, needs to be thorough,
which makes it appeared to be slow on OBJ’s
probe.
“You might not like the pace with which we
are going in investigating Obasanjo. Ours is to
ensure that we do things thoroughly. In so
doing, we must not only display prudence, but
we must be able to display professionalism so
as to ensure that everything we do is in line
with the scheme of things.
“You people are in a hurry, but we are telling
you that we are on it and we will get to where
we are going,” he said.
He assured Nigerians that soon, results of
their investigation into the activities of the
former administration, including its key
players, would be made public.
His words: “You might want it now, but we
assure you that you will get results.”
Commending the efforts and method adopted
by CACOL in its agitation for the probe of the
former president, Umaru said the fight was
for the masses and the good of the nation
Earlier, the leader of CACOL, Mr. Debo
Adeniran, who led the protesters, had told the
EFCC that the on-going probe by the House of
Representatives of the power sector would be
futile if Obasanjo, who has been mentioned by
many of those who testified before the House
panel, failed to appear.
He said his group would not be satisfied if the
House Committee on Power and Steel failed to
compel the former president to testify before
it in the on-going probe into how his regime
spent about $16 billion without anything to
show for it.
His words: “Such preferential treatment will
not only rubbish whatever good intention that
might have informed the effort of Ndudi
Elumelu-led panel, it will also paint the House
as another pack of opportunistic rent seekers.”
The group also asked EFCC to extend its
searchlight to the administration of former
military head of state, Gen. Abdulsalami
Abubakar.
Okonjo-Iweala, Ezekwesili face probe panel
today
Dr. Okonjo-Iweala first served as Finance
Minister and later Foreign Affairs Minister
while Mrs Ezekwesili headed the Due Process
Office before she was made Minister of Solid
Minerals, and then Education.
Dr. Okonjo-Iweala is now Regional Managing
Director of the World Bank while Mrs
Ezekwesili is Regional Vice President of the
same organisation.
Their solicitors — Stream Sowers and Kohn
— in a March 24, 2008 letter to the panel
conveyed their readiness to testify before the
panel at 1 p.m. today.
This followed approval for their appearance
before the panel by their employers, the World
Bank.
Chairman of the Reps Committee on Power,
Mr. Ndudi Elumelu, had last week, received
separate letters from their lawyers, saying
they needed the official approval of the World
Bank to appear before the panel.
Colenco, REA also to testify
Also to testify today before the panel are
National Integrated Power Project (NIPP)
contractors, Colenco, and the Rural
Electrification Agency (REA).
Members of the Committee who spoke to
Vanguard yesterday pledged to see to it that
“all contractors or participants in the looting
of the country through the power sector are
punished.”
A member of the Committee who pleaded
anonymity said pressure was being mounted
on the Committee to summon former
President Olusehun Obasanjo and the former
Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, to
testify.
Elumelu told journalists after the Committee
rounded-off the first half of its probe last
Thursday that former President Obasanjo as
the chief executive and his deputy might be
required to explain their role in the failure of
the sector. He insisted that the probe might go
on, even if it “means doing it in camera.”
Ogundele, Leon Usigbe & Tordue Salem
Thursday, 27 March 2008
*Okonjo-Iweala, Ezekwesili face
power probe panel
THE Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission (EFCC), yesterday, said it had
commenced investigation into the eight-year
administration of former President Olusegun
Obasanjo.
This followed calls by some Nigerians and
groups for a probe of the administration.
Meanwhile, former ministers — Dr. Ngozi
Okonjo-Iweala and Mrs Obiageli Ezekwesili —
are to appear before the House of
Representatives Committee on Power and
Steel today to say all they know about the
expenditure on the power sector by the
Obasanjo administration.
Announcing the commencemnet of the probe
of the Obasanjo administration,the Head,
General Investigations of the anti-graft
agency, Mr. Sanda Umaru, said: “We are
fighting the same cause. The truth of the
matter is that we are on that issue (probing
Obasanjo administration) at the moment. We
want everyone to know that we are on it and
definitely we will get to where we are going.
Addressing members of the Coalition Against
Corrupt Leaders (CACOL) during a protest at
EFCC office, Ikoyi, Mr Umaru said: “The
difference between the EFCC and CACOL is
that CACOL wants investigation into the
matter to be conducted urgently, while EFCC,
by the nature of its job, needs to be thorough,
which makes it appeared to be slow on OBJ’s
probe.
“You might not like the pace with which we
are going in investigating Obasanjo. Ours is to
ensure that we do things thoroughly. In so
doing, we must not only display prudence, but
we must be able to display professionalism so
as to ensure that everything we do is in line
with the scheme of things.
“You people are in a hurry, but we are telling
you that we are on it and we will get to where
we are going,” he said.
He assured Nigerians that soon, results of
their investigation into the activities of the
former administration, including its key
players, would be made public.
His words: “You might want it now, but we
assure you that you will get results.”
Commending the efforts and method adopted
by CACOL in its agitation for the probe of the
former president, Umaru said the fight was
for the masses and the good of the nation
Earlier, the leader of CACOL, Mr. Debo
Adeniran, who led the protesters, had told the
EFCC that the on-going probe by the House of
Representatives of the power sector would be
futile if Obasanjo, who has been mentioned by
many of those who testified before the House
panel, failed to appear.
He said his group would not be satisfied if the
House Committee on Power and Steel failed to
compel the former president to testify before
it in the on-going probe into how his regime
spent about $16 billion without anything to
show for it.
His words: “Such preferential treatment will
not only rubbish whatever good intention that
might have informed the effort of Ndudi
Elumelu-led panel, it will also paint the House
as another pack of opportunistic rent seekers.”
The group also asked EFCC to extend its
searchlight to the administration of former
military head of state, Gen. Abdulsalami
Abubakar.
Okonjo-Iweala, Ezekwesili face probe panel
today
Dr. Okonjo-Iweala first served as Finance
Minister and later Foreign Affairs Minister
while Mrs Ezekwesili headed the Due Process
Office before she was made Minister of Solid
Minerals, and then Education.
Dr. Okonjo-Iweala is now Regional Managing
Director of the World Bank while Mrs
Ezekwesili is Regional Vice President of the
same organisation.
Their solicitors — Stream Sowers and Kohn
— in a March 24, 2008 letter to the panel
conveyed their readiness to testify before the
panel at 1 p.m. today.
This followed approval for their appearance
before the panel by their employers, the World
Bank.
Chairman of the Reps Committee on Power,
Mr. Ndudi Elumelu, had last week, received
separate letters from their lawyers, saying
they needed the official approval of the World
Bank to appear before the panel.
Colenco, REA also to testify
Also to testify today before the panel are
National Integrated Power Project (NIPP)
contractors, Colenco, and the Rural
Electrification Agency (REA).
Members of the Committee who spoke to
Vanguard yesterday pledged to see to it that
“all contractors or participants in the looting
of the country through the power sector are
punished.”
A member of the Committee who pleaded
anonymity said pressure was being mounted
on the Committee to summon former
President Olusehun Obasanjo and the former
Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, to
testify.
Elumelu told journalists after the Committee
rounded-off the first half of its probe last
Thursday that former President Obasanjo as
the chief executive and his deputy might be
required to explain their role in the failure of
the sector. He insisted that the probe might go
on, even if it “means doing it in camera.”
"I'm Innocent!"
Written by Adekunle Aliyu Thursday, 27
March 2008
Vanguard
PROFESSOR Adenike Grange who
resigned on Tuesday as Minister of
Health has said she is not in anyway
guilty of the corruption allegations that
led to her exit from the Federal
Cabinet.
PROFESSOR Adenike GrangeProf.
Grange resigned along with her
Minister of State, Mr. Gabriel Aduku,
over the non-remittance of about
N300 million unspent vote of the
ministry for 2007 to the Federal
Government coffers in contravention
of the directive of President Umaru
Yar’Adua.
In her first public statement on her
decision to throw in the towel, the
former minister said: “I want to clearly
state that while I am not the chief
accounting officer of the ministry, the
fact is that the recent episode
involving ‘contracts and welfare
packages’ happened under my
leadership for which I accept
responsibility but not the blame.
“However, my acceptance of
responsibility should not be
misconstrued as an admission of guilt
but rather a path of honour for lapses
and intrigues under my watch for
which I unfortunately was not well
versed in.
“As a professional and a technocrat, I
must admit that the level of decay and
corruption within the ministry and the
whole Nigerian system as we all know
glaringly need to be decisively tackled
and purged.
“I saw my invitation to serve in this
cabinet as an opportunity for
professionals to join in the extirpation
and re-engineering of the whole
system to move this great country
forward expediently.
“Finally, I am leaving this cabinet
because I consider my dignity,
reputation and legacy, values that I
have worked hard for and hold dearly.
I am returning to my unblemished
career which I have assiduously
laboured for over the years with
resounding success nationally and
internationally and to the business of
which I am familiar with... saving the
lives of mothers and children across
Nigeria and the world in general.
“I wish Mr. President God’s guidance,
strength, courage, will power and
wisdom to put this country on the
path of greatness again,” she said.
Written by Adekunle Aliyu Thursday, 27
March 2008
Vanguard
PROFESSOR Adenike Grange who
resigned on Tuesday as Minister of
Health has said she is not in anyway
guilty of the corruption allegations that
led to her exit from the Federal
Cabinet.
PROFESSOR Adenike GrangeProf.
Grange resigned along with her
Minister of State, Mr. Gabriel Aduku,
over the non-remittance of about
N300 million unspent vote of the
ministry for 2007 to the Federal
Government coffers in contravention
of the directive of President Umaru
Yar’Adua.
In her first public statement on her
decision to throw in the towel, the
former minister said: “I want to clearly
state that while I am not the chief
accounting officer of the ministry, the
fact is that the recent episode
involving ‘contracts and welfare
packages’ happened under my
leadership for which I accept
responsibility but not the blame.
“However, my acceptance of
responsibility should not be
misconstrued as an admission of guilt
but rather a path of honour for lapses
and intrigues under my watch for
which I unfortunately was not well
versed in.
“As a professional and a technocrat, I
must admit that the level of decay and
corruption within the ministry and the
whole Nigerian system as we all know
glaringly need to be decisively tackled
and purged.
“I saw my invitation to serve in this
cabinet as an opportunity for
professionals to join in the extirpation
and re-engineering of the whole
system to move this great country
forward expediently.
“Finally, I am leaving this cabinet
because I consider my dignity,
reputation and legacy, values that I
have worked hard for and hold dearly.
I am returning to my unblemished
career which I have assiduously
laboured for over the years with
resounding success nationally and
internationally and to the business of
which I am familiar with... saving the
lives of mothers and children across
Nigeria and the world in general.
“I wish Mr. President God’s guidance,
strength, courage, will power and
wisdom to put this country on the
path of greatness again,” she said.
| being tried by special courts for corrupt enrichment, two cabinet members have just been let go, while the Congress need for due legal process in fishing out and punishing corrupt officials in free and fair trials. Past military govts also have been known to have harassed and detained public officials with no noticeable permutation in the self enrichment culture in public offices. Well-said when indicted public officers claim their innocence. But they should say it in properly constituted courts! Pls. Read stories below and Email Us if you will |
