Kemi Adeosun
When Kemi Adeosun was appointed into the cabinet of President
Muhammadu Buhari in 2015, she must have thanked her stars without
knowing that a day like this would come. Not every commissioner ends up
being a minister, hence after working under Ibikunle Amosun, governor of
her home state of Ogun, Adeosun could have thought of other jobs but
not succeeding the globally-acclaimed Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.
While her colleagues presiding over other ministries are looking
forward to the May 29 date, she bowed out just seven months to the end
of the current administration, having been caught in a certificate
scandal. Premium Times had reported how her National Youth Service Corps
(NYSC) exemption certificate was forged. Although she initially
displayed calmness in the face of the storm, Adeosun succumbed to the
pressure which followed the revelation.
From the time she was appointed in 2015 up till the moment she
resigned, she was fraught with controversies and breakthroughs,
including Nigeria bouncing back from its first recession in 29 years.
Below is a rundown of her career path, from life after school till her last job.
HER TIME IN BIG UK COMPANIES
In 1989, she graduated from the University of East London
(previously Polytechnic of East London) where she studied Applied
Economics, landing her first official appointments in big UK companies.
Her first job was at British Telecoms from where she joined Goodman
Jones as an audit officer up till 1993.
In 1994, she proceeded to the London Underground Company as
internal audit manager and in 1996, joined Prism Consulting, a finance
firm, where she worked till 2000. She left the company that year to work
at the PricewaterhouseCoopers as a senior manager for two years before
returning to Nigeria in 2002.
Upon her return to the country, she worked at Chapel Hill Denham and was in 2011, appointed the commissioner of finance in Ogun.
PULLING NIGERIA OUT OF ITS WORST RECESSION IN 29 YEARS
Under Adeosun’s watch, Nigeria slipped into its first economic
recession in 29 years and critics used this as an avenue to discredit
her. Data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed country’s
economy contracted by 2.06 percent to record its lowest growth rate in
three decades and in the first quarter of 2016, shrank by 0.36 percent
to hit its lowest point in 25 years.
The last time Nigeria suffered such fate was under the regime of
Ibrahim Babangida when the economy recorded consecutive decline of 0.51
percent and 0.82 percent in first and second quarters of 1987.
The former minister and her team were, however, able to maneuver
the country out of recession about a year later, though with little or
no impact of this felt at the time. She can’t be given the entire credit
but her contributions made the feat possible.
DEBT AND MORE DEBT
Under Adeosun, Nigeria’s debt profile rose to a worrisome level,
hitting N22.7 trillion or $73.21 billion in the first quarter of 2018.
The Debt Management Office (DMO) had said the rise in total debt stock
was recorded after the federal government issued a $2.5 billion Eurobond
in February.
Before 2005, Nigeria had an external debt stock of $36 billion,
which had been carried over from the military years, dating back to
1985.
In October 2005, with Okonjo-Iweala as finance minister, Nigeria
and the Paris Club announced a final agreement for debt relief worth $18
billion after Nigeria paid $12 billion.
The deal was completed on April 21, 2006, when Nigeria made its
final payment and its books were cleared of any Paris Club debt,
bringing Nigeria’s external debt profile to just $3 billion while
domestic debt was only about N1 trillion.
Expressing worry over the high debt profile, Amina Mohammed, the
deputy secretary-general of the United Nations (UN) and a former member
of Buhari’s cabinet, had said: “The debt issues are really big, I mean,
having experienced what it was for Ngozi (Okonjo-Iweala) to get debt
relief. It took her a few years to convince people, and we are now back
again in my country, with a level of debt that is worrying, but its
happening all over. Africa, is that the way we want to go?”
Ironically, Mohammed, who like Adeosun was among the few women in
Buhari’s government, left her position for what can be considered a
higher office but same cannot be said of Adeosun.
BATTLE WITH SEC DG
One of her down-times as minister was during the feud with Mounir
Gwarzo, suspended director-general of the Securities and Exchange
Commission (SEC). In November, she suspended Gwarzo over allegations
bothering on abuse of office, at a time the commission was planning to
audit Oando Plc.
Adeosun said the suspension was to allow for unhindered
investigation of N104 million severance package pocketed by Gwarzo
shortly after he was named DG in 2015. But Gwarzo attributed the
suspension to his refusal to stop the forensic audit of Oando in line
with the directive of the minister.
The shares of the company were placed on technical suspension in
October 23, 2017 following the announcement of a forensic audit in the
wake of alleged massive “manipulation of the company’s shareholding
structure.”
Adeosun, however, dismissed Gwarzo’s accusation, saying the decision to suspend Oando’s shares emanated from the ministry.
“That the original decision taken by SEC on October 20, 2017 to
suspend the shares of Oando Plc and conduct a forensic audit, was
approved and endorsed by the federal ministry of finance,” she had said.
While speaking at a house of representatives committee meeting, he
alleged the minister suspended him for refusing to halt the forensic
probe of Oando, which, according to him, she was against.
But the former minister had denied this and accused Gwarzo of blackmail.
ROLE IN ABACHA LOOT
After the Nigerian government had paid Enrico Monfrini, a Swiss
lawyer, for the repatriation of $321 million Abacha loot, TheCable had
reported how Abubakar Malami, minister of justice and attorney-general
of the federation hired two Nigerian lawyers to complete an already
completed job for another fee of $17m.
However, Adeosun refused to approve the payment of the dubious fees
to the lawyers. After TheCable reported her refusal to approve the
payment, the ministry issued a statement describing the report as false.
However, Adeosun kept mum after TheCable threatened to publish
evidence of her chat, confirming that she refused to approve the dubious
fees.
AND THEN THE BIG BLOW
Adeosun woke up to the last nail on the coffin that buried her
career as finance minister when on July 7, Premium Times, released an
incriminating report of Adeosun skipping the compulsory one year service
corps and forging her exemption certificate.
Having finished her first degree at 22, she was not entitled to
exemption on the grounds of age except she was above 30, according to
the NYSC Act.
TheCable had reported how top officials of the corps plotted to help Adeosun out of the scandal.
NYSC insiders told TheCable that the officials were looking for a
way to help her out by blaming the mess on the former director-general,
Yusuf Bomoi, a retired brigadier-general who died on September 18, 2017.
The forged exemption certificate bears Bomoi’s signature. Adesoun
had failed to comment on the accusation when the report surfaced online
but the pressure kept piling. Following wide public outcry, the NYSC
said it would probe the allegation. The corps had later said Adeosun
applied for an exemption certificate but did not state if it granted it
to her or not.
Buhari reportedly ordered an internal investigation but the
findings did not favour her. Adeosun has made her own contribution to
her fatherland and would be remembered for her in office.
***
Source: TheCable