Kogiflame
…. Calls for sack of Lower Niger River Basin Authority MD over misappropriation of funds
Nigerian Union of Agriculture and Allied Employees has protested against the running of the Lower Niger River Basin Authority by the helmsman, Dr Saheed Adeniyi Aremu.
The Union brandished placards depicting the height of misapplication and misappropriation of funds by the management.
Sit oning unbridled mismanagement of funds by the administration of Dr Aremu, the NUAAE’s State Secretary, Mr Motunbi Oluwatayo Aiyejumelo who spoke at the gate of the Headquarters, Ilorin said, “We can no longer watch the authority’s unchecked misapplication of funds to the detriment of the welfare of our members.”
According to him, “the staff and union members welfare have been compromised as a result of misapplication of money on projects that do not have impact on them,” stressing that, “the management has over the years neglected the welfare of staff by embarking on frivolous projects.”
Meanwhile, the State Chairman of NUAAE, Comrade Dr D. K. Ehindero who lend credence to the protest by the Branch Union, emphatically called for the removal of Dr Aremu in line with the Anti-Corruption crusade of t Buhari government.
In a petition letter addressed to President Muhammadu Buhari signed by Ehindero, Mudi Olayinka and Ayedun Abdulrasheed, Branch Chairman and Secretary respectively, they demanded the removal of Dr Aremu over “contract inflation, non-submission of audited financial statement, use of commercial banks to divert internally generated revenues meant for consolidated funds (CFR).”
They further alleged that, “contracts were awarded above the threshold of the Managing Director, keeping money illegally in the Parent Teachers Association account, awarding contracts not relevant to the mandate of the Authority” among others.
The union noted that, “despite several sanctions from various monitoring agencies of the government, the Managing Director continued his heedless attitude,” adding that, “his actions more detrimental to the development of the Authority.”
The petition revealed that, “He awarded contract for upgrading of 0.3km road within the Headquarters of the Authority to dual carriage way with over #300m without consideration for ease of movement of our heavy duty equipment.”
They also questioned the award of N50m contract for the renovation of the Club House situated in the Headquarters of the Authority, while project offices and Store remained dilapidated.”
The Authority’s primary mandate, Irrigation Agriculture, the Union insisted, “has suffered huge setback under the leadership of Dr Aremu,” as he had “no dedicated budgetary provision for the Area and Project Offices that are critical to the Authority.”
“Our Union”, they stressed, “will no longer tolerate the nonchalant attitude of the Managing Director” as “his actions were capable of putting the jobs of our members on the line.”
The leadership of NUAAE called on the Federal government to “appoint Chief Executives of government owned agencies among career officers within organizations rather than impossing appointees from outside” in consonance with paragraph 2 of federal government circular captioned: End of tenure Processes for Heads of MDAS and Government-Owned Companies and Succession Guidelines.
