Embattled Adeosun Heads NBET Board

Acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo has approved the reconstitution of the Board of Directors of Nigeria Bulk Electricity Trading Company.

In a statement issued by the Director of Information, Ministry of Finance, Mr. Hassan Dodo, on Wednesday, Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, was made the Chairman.

The Director-General of Bureau of Public Enterprises, Mr. Alex Okoh, is the Vice-Chairman of the Board; while the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, will serve as Non-Executive Director.

Other Non-Executive Directors in the NBET Board include Director-General of Debt Management Office, Patience Oniha; Director-General of Budget Office of the Federation, Ben Akabueze; and the Managing Director of Asset Management Company of Nigeria, Mr. Ahmed Kuru.

It’s been more than a month since online newspaper Premium Times exclusively published a report detailing how Adeosun skipped the mandatory national service and used a forged certificate to cover for it.

Contrary to the requirement that every Nigerian below the age of 30 should participate in a mandatory year-long national service, upon graduation from the university or any other institution of similar status, it has been alleged that the minister did not only evade the service, but also presented a forged certificate to show that she was fittingly exempted.

Details of the grimy story indicate that the person purported to have signed the exemption certificate in September 2009 had already retired from service by January of the same year.

The story has generated outrage from Nigerians who called for an official investigation and asked the minister to resign from her post or be fired by President Muhammadu Buhari.