President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has suspended the Rural Electrification Agency (REA) Managing Director, Ahmad Salihijo Ahmad and three others over alleged 1.2 billion fraud
The suspension was announced on Thursday in a statement issued by the president’s special adviser on media and publicity, Ajuri Ngelale.
The three others suspended are: Olaniyi Alaba Netufo — Executive Director, Corporate Services; Barka Sajou — Executive Director, Technical Services; and Sa’adatu Balgore — Executive Director, Rural Electrification Fund (REF).
The president according to the statement has therefore ordered a wider investigation into the conduct of the aforementioned officials in a fraudulent misexpenditure amounting to over N1.2 billion over the past two years, some of which has already been recovered by anti-graft agencies.
The statement further said the president has hereby appointed a new management team of the Rural Electrification Agency (REA) in an acting capacity with immediate capacity.
The new appointees are; Abba Abubakar Aliyu — Managing Director/CEO; Ayoade Gboyega — Executive Director, Corporate Services; Umar Abdullahi Umar — Executive Director, Technical Services; Doris Uboh — Executive Director, Rural Electrification Fund (REF); and Olufemi Akinyelure — Head of Project Management Unit, Nigeria Electrification Project
President Bola Tinubu expects all appointees in his administration to uphold the highest standards of transparency and accountability in the discharge of their duties and reiterates his determination to elevate the yearnings of Nigerians for good governance and qualitative service delivery above the narrow interests of individuals who are entrusted to provide critical services to the Nigerian people.
Recall that the senior officials in the agency have been enmeshed in allegations of corruption that threaten the ability of the oft-troubled agency to achieve its purpose of providing electricity to rural communities,
Two anti-corruption agencies, the EFCC and ICPC, are currently probing the alleged embezzlement of public funds to the tune of N1.2 billion among some high-ranking officials of the agency.
