Kolade explains why he resigned as SURE-P chairman under Jonathan… and yes, it’s what we thought

8 years ago

Kolade explains why he resigned as SURE-P chairman under Jonathan… and yes, it’s what we thought

Speaking on Monday on “Views from the top”, a
show monitored on Channels TV, the former
chairman of the Subsidy Re-investment and
Empowerment Programme, Christopher Kolade,
explained that he resigned his position in 2013
because its operations were becoming tainted
with corruption and politics, thereby losing its
credibility
Here’s how Premium Times reported it:
He said some officials of the administration of
former President Goodluck Jonathan were
practising “something that was lower than the
transparency”, expected of an interventionist
agency like SURE-P.
He said he met resistance when he raised the
issues as he was overruled by some powerful
forces within the administration.
He spoke on Channels Television Programme,
“Views From The Top” anchored by Modele
Sarafa-Yusuf.
Mr. Kolade, 83, quit his position as chairman
of SURE-P in November 2013, citing advanced
age at the time.
He said having attained 80 years, he wanted
to slow on energy-demanding activities.
“I explained in the letter (to the president)
that having done this SURE-P programme for
two years and because within the next month I
would be clocking 81, I am giving up some
activities that take my energy,” he said.
The former Nigerian High Commissioner to the
United Kingdom was appointed head of the
SURE-P in February 2012 by Mr. Jonathan, after
nationwide protests following the hike in the
prices of petroleum products.
The SURE-P was mandated to convert saved
fuel subsidy money into jobs, roads and other
people-oriented programmes.
The media had speculated in 2013 that Mr.
Kolade resigned due to corruption at the
agency.

Speaking on the TV programme, Mr. Kolade
said he left his position because “he realized
that some of the values and standards agreed
on in the beginning had become diluted”.
He said he found out that some of the
decisions the agency was making did not meet
up with the standard they had set it up for.
“The government realized people would not
believe what they were saying,” Mr. Kolade
said.
“And the President said ‘we need to gain
credibility with the people in this programme.
So we believe that if you and your committee
can manage this thing transparently in
accordance with what we agreed, then that
credibility will be there’.
“Now that’s fine. But when I discovered that
there were individuals in the system that were
practicing something that was lower than the
transparency that we went in with, I raised the
issues. And I discovered that political
affiliations and things made this difficult.”
The former SURE-P boss cited an instance
when the agency decided to employ 5000
youth from every state of the federation.
According to him, when it commenced the
process it was told the arrangement it
adopted was not acceptable.
He said, “We started by saying that we would
offer employment to 5000 youths from every
state. Of course if you are sitting in Abuja, and
you want to identify 5000 youths in all the
states, it is difficult unless you involve people
who are on the spot.
“Now, it was the feeling of our committee, led
by me, that to identify people in the states, we
needed people who were political neutral. In
other words, get civil servants to go in there
and say according to the criteria you‘ve
agreed, these are the 5000 youths from this
state. But we were told that would not be
acceptable.
“So something was set up called State
Implementation Committees made up mainly
of people with political affiliations with one
party or the other. When that was brought into
play, I pointed out that I feared this would
politicize what we were trying to do. And that
therefore I felt we should take politicians out
of this. But I was overruled by those who had
the power to overrule me.
“And then, it started happening. I got
complaints from Abia state, from Ekiti state
that many of the youths being recruited into
the programme were supporters of party A or
party B and I went back, and said what I
suspected is beginning to happen.
“So we need to kill this thing right away and
go back to what we agreed. Now, somehow,
we couldn’t do that. And for me, if you destroy
the foundation on which you are setting up
something like that, if you feel that credibility
is the key to success in this thing, and then
you undermine credibility by politicizing the
issues, you are shooting yourself on the foot.
And I’m not very good at shooting in the foot
because I find out I can’t walk very well after
that.” Why I Resigned As SURE-P Chairman - Kolade

What's your rating?

{{ratingsCount}} Votes

Join Twitter

Telegram News

Follow on Whatsapp

Comments