The Nigeria Export – Import (NEXIM) is currently being rocked by a promotion scandal. This is coming on the heels of the promotion of 92 members of staff by the bank's acting Managing Director, Mr Bashir M Wali and Executive Director Corporate Services, Folake Itohan Oke, without following due process.
Some aggrieved staff under the aegis of Concerned Common Citizens of Nigeria (CCCN) in a petitioned to president Muhammadu Buhari described the promotion as illegal, saying the promotion was done without recourse to a board since none is in place.
They also alleged that most of the promoted staff were cronies of the acting
Managing Director, Mr Bashir M Wali and Executive Director Corporate Services, Folake Itohan Oke.
The group in a petition signed by its president, Halima Yusuf and Secretary General, Unekwu Khadijat Abubakar said while the federal government is working hard to eliminate to eliminate ghost workers, some persons are busy undermining the efforts.
They urged president Buhari to order an investigation into the finances of the bank within the short term that the interim management has been on board while the personal accounts of the management team should be kept under watch.
It also called on the president to investigate the legality perpetuated by Robert Orya for so many years to hire contract staffs against civil service rules with a majority being paid exorbitant entitlements that were later remitted to his wife.
The petition reads in part, "Following the dissolution of the boards of various government agencies and parastatals, the Nigeria Export – Import (NEXIM) Bank was affected alongside others leading to the exit of its former Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer. The bank’s Executive Director Business Development, Mr Bashir M Wali was appointed the acting Managing Director.
"Mr Wali has however done everything since this temporary appointment to contravene the agenda of change that your government stands for as he has re-introduced the practice of ‘business as usual’. He has in connivance with the Executive Director Corporate Services, Folake Itohan Oke, promoted 92 staff that are known cronies without recourse to a board since none is in place."
The group said it is on record that the honourable Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun held a meeting with NEXIM Banks’s interim leadership and warned against taking actions that can increase the operating cost of the institution. The minister specifically noted the bank’s non-performing loans (which stands at more than 30%) and poor risk management standards that have left it vulnerable and in no condition to take on additional expenses like salary increment that comes with promotions.
It said however, the Acting Managing Director and Executive Director Corporate Services, who had boasted that they would be confirmed in their present capacities, went ahead to carry out this action which everyone knows is in conflict with the present economic situation.
It reads further, "This coming from the Parastatal which ought to know the financial situation of the country is aimed at deliberately sabotaging your efforts at the bottom.
"The interim leadership of NEXIM Bank, in a mad rush to perpetuate and perfect this illegality, also acted without consulting the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Federal Ministry of Finance and other shareholders of the bank. We shall waste no time in recommending the sack of Mr. Bashir Wali and Mrs Folake Itoha with immediate effect. This is to conform with standard best practices every where in the world.
"We believe that other federal agencies with similar scenarios would be watching how the infraction by this duo will be dealt with to know if they should employ similar ploys. Should this happen, the resulting wage bill increment will further put pressure on government finances. This is not a venture to contemplate by your administration in this troubling times in our journey as a nation."
It also claimed it has on good authority that the Executive Director Corporate Services working as a proxy for the acting Managing Director has commissioned agents in a cash-for-employment recruitment exercise that is planned to smuggle 120 names into NEXIM Bank’s payroll without any form of interview or advertisement in violation of the principle of Federal Character.
It called on president Buhari to direct the interim management of NEXIM Bank to revert and return the 92 staff that benefitted from its questionable promotions to the status quo until a substantive Managing Director and management board is in place.
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