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| Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun |
The Federal Government on Thursday shut
the operations of the National Economic Reconstruction Fund following
the crisis that had crippled the agency in the last three weeks.
It also directed all the workers of the
agency to proceed on an indefinite leave pending further action that
would be taken on the crisis.
A notice on the shutdown of the agency
was on Thursday issued by the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of
Finance, Mahmoud Dutse, to members of staff of the organisation.
The notice read in part, “Following
recent developments in your organisation and failure to reconcile the
differences between the executive management and the entire staff in
spite of the ministry’s intervention on the matter, the Federal Ministry
of Finance has decided to close down your agency with immediate effect
to forestall a further breakdown of law and order.
“Consequently, all members of staff should proceed on an indefinite leave pending further instructions from the ministry.”
When contacted, the Media Adviser to the Minister of Finance, Mr. Festus Akanbi, confirmed the development.
He said in a telephone interview with our correspondent, “It is true, NERFUND has been closed down.”
The Federal Government had through the
Ministry of Finance set up a committee to investigate the allegations of
corruption levelled against the current interim management of the
agency
The workers of NERFUND had last month
disrupted business activities at the headquarters of the agency over
allegations of mismanagement and embezzlement of funds running into
about N700m.
The workers, who later took their
protest to the headquarters of the Ministry of Finance, had lamented the
failure of successive governments to make a pronouncement on the status
of the agency.
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