HURIWA queries Maiyaki’s appointment as REA procurement director, petitions ICPC

Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has protested the decision of the Minister of Power, Sale Mamman, to impose his kinsman, Mr. Bulus M. Maiyaki, as the Director of Procurement of the Rural Electrification Agency (REA) among few other appointments in alleged breach of procedures.

Besides, the pro-democracy organisation has specifically sent a Freedom of Information (FOI) request to the Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC), Prof. Bolaji Owosanoye, to demand the status of the investigation being carried out on the alleged N916 million scam at the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).

The rights group, in a statement signed by its National Co-ordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko, however, urged the anti-graft agency to clarify if the then Secretary of Tenders Board of the NHIS is not the same as Bulus D. Maiyaki, who is being appointed into the directorate cadre of the procurement department of the REA by the power minister and also if the said Maiyaki is not a party in the investigation being waged by ICPC at the NHIS regarding the accusations against the erstwhile executive secretary, Prof. Usman Yusuf, who was dismissed reportedly by President Muhammadu Buhari over allegation of misapplication of public finances.

HURIWA, therefore, asked the power minister to also inform Nigerians if his nominee is not the same as the person listed as Secretary of Tenders Board at the NHIS during the controversial tenure of the discredited executive secretary.

The letter to the ICPC dated January 8, 2020, titled “Protest Over Unilateral Imposition of Director of Procurement in Rural Electrification Agency,” read in part: “We write to strongly protest against the reported spate of redeployments and/or appointments made unilaterally by the Minister of Power, Mamman Sale, without adherence to the global best practices and without any regards to the mantra of anti-corruption and the acclaimed pursuits by the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration for the mainstreaming of the tenets of accountability, transparency and zero-tolerance to all forms of corruption.

“As one of the few credible civil rights advocacy groups in the country that focuses extensively on the thematic areas of transparency and anti-corruption, we have watched with considerable interests regarding the developments that have been triggered by the series of top level suspensions and removals credited to the Minister of Power, Mamman Sale, since coming on board and we have had convincing reasons to object to some of these arbitrary actions which sometimes are offensive to the internal legal mechanisms setting up some of these Federal Government agencies in the electricity power sector.”