Renaissance Africa Energy leadership meets Finance Minister after pivotal SPDC acquisition - ITREALMS

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The chairman of Renaissance Africa Energy Company Limited, Dr. Layi Fatona, has led a delegation of senior executives, including Managing Director & CEO, Mr. Tony Attah, on a courtesy visit to the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr. Wale Edun, at his office in Abuja, reports ITREALMS.

The visit marks a significant step in Renaissance’s ongoing engagement with key stakeholders after the March 2025 acquisition of SPDC 30% shares.

Buhari accepts Finance Minister, Adeosun resignation over fake certificate - ITREALMS

ITREALMS:

Nigerian President, Muhammadu Buhari, Friday accepted the resignation of the Hon. Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun, over alleged certificate forgery, reports ITREALMS.

He also thanked the Minister for her services to the nation and wished her well in future pursuits, and consequently approved that the Minister of State Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, should oversee the Ministry of Finance with immediate effect.

This was confirmed to ITREALMS by Mr. Femi Adesina, Special Adviser to the President on Media & Publicity, late Friday, September 14, 2018.

ITREALMS also gathered that Mrs. Adeosun had said in her resignation letter dated same day and made available to ITREALMS, acknowledged she resigned due to alleged forged Certificate of Exemption from National Youth Service Corp (NYSC) obtained for her when she relocated to Nigeria and equally presented same as genuine, unknown to her.

While describing the revelation by media as a shock, Adeosun believed that in line with this administration’s focus on integrity, “I must do the honourable thing and resign.”

Below is the full text of Mrs Adeosun’s resignation letter.

"14th September, 2018

His Excellency

Muhammadu Buhari

President, Federal Republic of Nigeria

State House

Aso Villa

Abuja

Dear Excellency,

Let me commence by thanking you profusely for the honour and privilege of serving under your inspirational leadership. It has been a truly rewarding experience to learn from you and to observe at close quarters your integrity and sense of duty.

I have, today, become privy to the findings of the investigation into the allegation made in an online medium that the Certificate of Exemption from National Youth Service Corp (NYSC) that I had presented was not genuine. This has come as a shock to me and I believe that in line with this administration’s focus on integrity, I must do the honourable thing and resign.

Your Excellency, kindly permit me to outline some of the background to this matter. I was born and raised in the United Kingdom, indeed my parental family home remains in London. My visits to Nigeria up until the age of thirty-four (34) were holidays, with visas obtained in my UK passport. I obtained my first Nigerian passport at the age of thirty-four (34) and when I relocated there was debate as to whether NYSC Law applied to me. Upon enquiry as to my status relating to NYSC, I was informed that due to my residency history and having exceeded the age of thirty (30), I was exempted from the requirement to serve. Until recent events, that remained my understanding.

On the basis of that advice and with the guidance and assistance of those, I thought were trusted associates, NYSC were approached for documentary proof of status. I then received the certificate in question. Having never worked in NYSC, visited the premises, been privy to nor familiar with their operations, I had no reason to suspect that the certificate was anything but genuine. Indeed, I presented that certificate at the 2011 Ogun State House of Assembly and in 2015 for Directorate of State Services (DSS) Clearance as well as to the National Assembly for screening. Be that as it may, as someone totally committed to a culture of probity and accountability I have decided to resign with effect from Friday, 14th September, 2018.

Your Excellency, It has been an exceptional privilege to have served our nation under your leadership and to have played a role in steering our economy at a very challenging time. I am proud that Nigeria has brought discipline into its finances, has identified and is pursuing a path to long term sustainable growth that will unlock the potential in this great economy. Under your leadership, Nigeria was able to exit recession and has now started to lay the foundations for lasting growth and wealth creation. Repositioning this huge economy is not a short term task and there are no short cuts, indeed there are tough decisions still to be made but I have no doubt that your focus on infrastructural investment, revenue mobilisation and value for money in public expenditure will deliver growth, wealth and opportunity for all Nigerians.

I thank His Excellency, the Vice President and my colleagues in the Federal Executive Council for the huge pleasure and honour of working with them. I also thank most specially, the team in the ‘Finance Family’ of advisers and heads of agencies under the Ministry of Finance. Your Excellency, this group of committed Nigerians represent a range of backgrounds, ethnicities and ages. They have worked well above and beyond the call of duty to support me in the tasks assigned. The diversity in my team and their ability to work cohesively to deliver reforms, convinces me that Nigeria has the human capital required to succeed.

Your Excellency, let me conclude by commending your patience and support, during the long search for the truth in this matter. I thank you again for giving me the honour of serving under your leadership, it is a rare privilege, which I do not take for granted. As a Nigerian and committed progressive, I appreciate you for your dogged commitment to improving this nation.

Please be assured, as always, of my highest regards and best wishes

Kemi Adeosun (Mrs)"

Chuks Egbune/GEE

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Adeosun: Nigeria’s economic challenges are surmountable

ITRealms:

… Resists calls for IMF solution

The Finance Minister, Mrs Kemi Adeosun, has explained why the Federal Government is not excited about calls to apply for loan facility from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to tackle some of the current economic challenges that Nigeria is facing due to the slump in global oil prices, reports ITRealms.

Adeosun gave this clarification on Friday at a Spring Meetings of the IMF/World Bank alongside other speakers including IMF Deputy Managing Director Mitsuhiro Furusawa and Rwanda Finance Minister Claver Gatete.

The Minister, who was a speaker at a panel discussion on Africa titled, “Sub-Saharan Africa: Just a Rough Patch,” said Nigeria is adapting to its new realities and it is implementing fiscal policies to steer the country back on track for stable growth with a diversified economy. 

These policies and investment should enable Nigeria to show positive growth in 2017.

Adeosun emphasised that what the country is passing through is surmountable, adding that government is already applying a cocktail of measures to address the problem.

“Nigeria is not sick and even if we are, we have our own local remedy,” the Minister said, in an apparent response to a question on why the government has refused to apply for IMF loans.

Noting that the real vulnerability in the Nigerian economy is over-dependence on a single source of revenue, oil, the Minister said, “We have resolved to build resilience into the country’s economy to hedge against future oil shocks. This is because dependence on oil brings about vulnerability and laziness. So we are doing a combination of things to diversify our economy, with revenue mobilisation to enable sufficient investment in developing the non-oil sectors.”

We have a great opportunity to reset the Nigerian economy and ensure that as we go forward, growth will be in a sustainable manner so that we won’t be vulnerable to oil price fluctuations, and with a truly diversified economy we would have enabled opportunities for wealth creation that would have trickles down to every Nigerian.

The compelling business case in Nigeria is that the fundamentals remain very strong, a teaming, young growing population, rich in resources and with a government determined to finally get it right. The great thing is that long term investors recognize this and understand the difference between short term and long term issues and the case for Nigeria persuades one to plan for the longer term opportunities.

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Pix: Finance Minister, Mrs Kemi Adeosun