President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday kicked out the Executive of the Nigeria Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC), Saratu Umar with immediate effect.
The sacking of the Chief Executive of the investment promotion agency was sequel to allegations of mismanagement and incompetence.
Although the official statement by Presidential spokesperson, Femi Adesina, announcing the sack did not disclose the reason for disengagement from office, sources close to the NIPC said it was a culmination of her long drawn face-off with senior officials of the investment promotion agency miffed by her conduct and general style of management.
The statement from the Presidency titled “PRESIDENT BUHARI TERMINATES APPOINTMENT OF SARATU UMAR AS NIPC Boss” reads:
“President Muhammadu Buhari has terminated the appointment of Hajiya Saratu Umar as the Executive Secretary/Chief Executive Officer of the Nigeria Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC), with immediate effect.”
Adesina said the President directed the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Adeniyi Adebayo, to mandate the most senior Director in the Commission to immediately take over the management in interim capacity.
Ms Umar was first appointed into the position in July, 2014. But in May 2015, less than a year later, President Goodluck Jonathan relieved her of the appointment, before Buhari reappointed her in July 2022.
However,no sooner had she resumed that she began having problems some of the directors of Commission who later petitioned the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, over alleged high-handedness, maltreatment and breach of the extant Federal Civil Service regulations in the management of the agency.
The directors were said to have invited the Minister to act fast in order to save the Commission from collapse as a result of Ms Umar’s mismanagement and incompetence.
A petition to the Head of Civil Service of the Federation dated March 7, 2023 and signed by the aggrieved directors, including Gana Wakil, John Oseji, James Akwada, Abubakar Yerima , A P. Okala and Umar Bello, lamented a situation where Ms Umar refused to work with them, rather preferring to minute directly all matters to subordinates of her choice.
The petition which was copied to the Minister of Labour and Employment, National Security Adviser, Chief of Staff to the President, Chairman, Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, Nigerian Labour Congress and Trade Union Congress, also accused the sacked NIPC boss of not assigning any director to oversee the Commission during her most recent trip to Japan on January 24, 2023.
Instead, the directors said she chose to appointe a deputy director to oversee the Commission, removing the names of the petitioners from the list of NIPC staff for the 2023 management and senior cadre training.
Also, she was alleged to have refused to hold any tenders board meeting with the directors, rather undertaking all procurements without their knowledge, or even the head of procurement, by setting up a committee chaired by a Deputy Director, Shiru Abdullahi, to review promotions of staff and directors, posting professionals among the directors outside their areas of professional competence in violation of NIPC’s approved structure by the Head of Civil Service of the Federation (HOCSF) and the Public Service Rules.
Besides, Ms Umar was said to have failed to hold promotion examinations in 2022, despite management’s preparations towards the 2021 and 2022 promotion examinations, which were already underway prior to her re-appointment.
The petitioners further enumerated other grievances against the ES, and which negatively impacted the smooth operation of the Commission, including delay in treating official correspondences regarding requests for critical business information and NIPC’s intervention on issues affecting investments from all stakeholders.
It was gathered that following the petition, Ms Umar ignored an invitation by a Ministerial panel constituted to probe the allegations towards and amicable resolution.
