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THE JIMOH IJEGBAI, I KNOW, AND THE TRUTH HE TOLD US

Published

1 year ago

August 23, 2023

By Osakwe Aibuedefe Akugbe

Ordinarily, Hon. Jimoh Ijegbai would have passed for an honest and stable man, but his recent utterances and actions, claiming to be one of the Edo North Leaders, have left so much to be desired in a man who, on his own, had accused the Governor of Edo state of corruption and today is seen as one of the hailers of the same man.

Jimoh Ijegbai, before he worked with the Governor, was the chairman of Owan East Local Government before he was appointed to serve as commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy affairs in the first tenure of Governor Godwin Obaseki’s administration, and later, he became the Commissioner for Education in the same administration.

Hon Jimoh Ijegbai was suddenly relieved from the Edo state EXCO as a commissioner in what was made to appear as a minor cabinet reshuffle. This action by the Governor did not go well with Mr. Ijegbai, who vehemently relayed his unpalatable experience with Gov. Godwin Obaseki. According to Ijegbai, the Governor of being unfair to him with his removal as a commissioner of education after he had coughed out the sum of Three Hundred and Fifty Million Naira (N350million) from the Ministry of Education as a donation to Governor Godwin Obaseki’s second term election in 2020.

Ijegbai had lamented that despite his benevolence, the most arrogant, wicked, and ungrateful thing Governor Obaseki could reward him with was his removal from office and the subsequent deployment of Dr. Joan Oviawe, a close ally of the Governor to oversee the Ministry because the Governor needed someone else to help him monitor the diversion of the donor funds coming into the Ministry.

Jimoh Ijegbai further alleged that Dr. Joan, whom he suspected to be having romantic affairs with Obaseki, prevented him as commissioner from nominating the SUBEB secretary from the Ministry, which has always been the norm, and boastfully stated that he would petition the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to investigate Governor Obaseki and Dr. Joan’s fraudulent activities at SUBEB after his tenure as the Governor of the State.

So far, investigation reveals that the worst and most appalling issue is the fact that the Edo State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), which was previously managed by Dr. Joan Oviawe, still deliberately owe a lot of her contractors to date and vowed never to pay the contractors for reasons best known to the Governor and Dr. Oviawe.

SUBEB, which operates under a counterpart fund jointly financed by the Universal Basic Education Board and the different state governments, is supposed to have the funds readily available in an account before jobs are awarded, but in the case of Edo State, the funds cannot be accounted for hence the delay in the payment of the contractors.

While we have been able to track the details of all transactions and the personal conversations, we await the response of Jimoh Ijegbai, the former commissioner, as we dig further into the Seventy-Five Million Dollar ($75m) scandal currently rocking the Ministry of Education and how the funds are currently being diverted.

After a forensic audit, we shall invite the EFCC to check the records of the Ministry and SUBEB to see the financial mess perpetrated by Ijegbai during his tenure as a commissioner of education and those who conspired with him.

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Nigeria Will Take Good Shape In No Distant Time- Olawande

Published

2 days ago

September 16, 2024

The Gleamer

Joel Ajayi

The Minister of State for Youth Development, Ayodele Olawande has urged the citizens of the country to be patient with the Administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in transforming the lives of its citizens through various policies and programs of the federal government.

The Minister made this submission while delivering his speech at the Joint Union Negotiating Council’s week of the Federal Ministry of Youth Development branch. This is the first edition since both Ministries of Youth and Sports had been damaged. The JUNC week which was held at Atiku Hall, Office of Head of Civil Service of the Federation in Abuja had its theme: “The working people in a volatile, uncertain, and complex economy”

In the words of the Honourable Minister: “I urge you to be patient with this administration. In no distant time, the country will take good shape and the lives of its citizens will be transformed”.

“President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is not a pauper, he is an acknowledged epitome of wealth, and so it cannot be said of him that he desires to loot the treasury of Nigeria. He has seen money and as a result of this, he is not interested in looting the nation’s treasury”, Olawande explained.

He emphasized that “leadership is all about being committed to serve. If you are a Minister now, tomorrow you will be addressed as a former Minister, likewise a Director because there is no permanent position but the impact that you made while in that office will speak after you”, the Minister reiterated.

Olawande expressed his gratitude to the workers of the Ministry for being supportive of the government policies and programs. He promised that the welfare of the staff would not be compromised, adding that workers deserve remuneration for being hardworking.

Earlier in his address, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Mr. Olubunmi Olusanya admonished the staff of the Ministry to put in their best as “Performance Management System” which replaces APER is the criteria to be used for promotion effective next year. This, according to him is because the Performance Management System (PMS) records the best efforts and input of each staff which will in turn be used to grade such staff.

Olusanya who disclosed that the welfare of the staff is his priority as workers deserve the best for the services rendered. He opined that “the hungry man is angry and as a worker, if you are not treated fairly and properly, it is impossible to get the best out of you. As a result, all staff will be treated properly as motivation to propel the best in you”, he concluded.

The Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Mrs. Esther Didi Walson-Jack, OON, MNI, in her address, informed that the activity to reinvigorate the Civil Service in a bid to ensure that Civil Servants carry out their duties with much diligence to have efficient and incorruptible civil service is currently on course. She advised workers to wake up and be committed to the service of the nation.

In his closing remarks, Mr. Jerry Akume, the General Secretary of the Union expressed his delight in celebrating this year’s edition of the Union week, while highlighting the achievements of the union so far. These include:

Upward review of staff welfare, prompt payment of repatriation allowances, payment of first 28 days allowance, assistance to the sick, general training of staff, and sending forth/retirement package for retired staff.

He also appealed to the Management of the Ministry, saying that irrespective of the aforementioned achievements, a lot still needs to be done in such areas as procurement of staff buses, upward review of welfare payment for festive periods, consistent general staff training, and procurement of office and work materials.

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