Workers jittery as FG moves to shut down NERFUND
…Govt to close agency on Oct 31
…Winding up not in the best interest of economy
…We are not aware of govt’s move- Finance Ministry Official
Mathew Dadiya Abuja
Following the Federal Government’s directive to shut down the National Economic Reconstruction Fund (NERFUND), a parastatal under the Federal Ministry of Finance, workers of the agency are now jittery while some people have criticised the decision of the government to windup the agency in view of the current economic challenges.
NERFUND was set up to provide needed medium to long term financing to viable Small and Medium scale production enterprises with its grand objectives to increase the quantum of goods and services available for local consumption and export, provide needed employment, expand production base and add value to the economy.
But this objective seemed to be going down the drain, as the agency saddled with the responsibility of empowering small and medium scale enterprises, especially manufacturing and agro-allied and ancillary services seem to have met its end as the Federal Government has concluded plans to completely shut down the agency by October 31, 2017.
Investigation by The Daily Times revealed that the Federal Ministry of Finance had officially notified over 100 members of staff of the agency of its intention to wind-up without any provision made for redeployment of the workers.
When The Daily Times visited NERFUND on Tuesday, one of the officials who spoke on condition of anonymity, said: “Since 2011, it has been the issue of merger, and ever since we have been hoping that things will get better, that the government will have a rethink because NERFUND plays a very vital role in this economy especially with the diversification agenda of the present administration.
But one wonders if winding up will be in the best interest of the economy and the nation at large.” The emotionally demoralised official, further said: “Psychologically we are down, all the member’s staff here, we don’t know what our fate is. Please note that the development has affected me psychologically because, when I joined the organisation, my expectation is that it will be revived and also partake in moulding the economy. But here am I after working for seven years, I have not achieved that dream. I have families and people who depend on me for everything. ”
Also, a female official of the agency said that when she joined NERFUND in 2011, the agency was viable and the management disbursed loans to SMSEs but since then, the government has refused to fund the agency.
She said, “I joined NERFUND in 2011, at the entry level. The then management disbursed loans to entrepreneurs in 2012 and 2013 but since then there had been no disbursement so far. The then Managing Director, Mr. Gimba left in 2013 and then a new management was appointed, Mr. M.G. Kollore as the Managing Director and Mr. Elonwor Ihva as Executive Director, representatives from CBN and NDIC respectively. They were here since 2013 to 2016 when Dr. Ezekiel Oseni took over.
Since 2013, nothing has been done in terms of disbursing loans which is our core mandate. It has been recovery all the way, but last year when Dr. Ezekiel Oseni took over, the management staff were disengaged, all in a bid to reduce cost.”
Speaking further, the source also disclosed that the Federal Government will officially wind up NERFUND by October 31st. She further said, “But as it is now, we’ve been officially notified that by October 31st, NERFUND will be shut down. We’ve been given the choice to either resign or be sacked, according to the managing director.
They are working with the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Finance who has been here and assured for us that we will be placed somewhere. We are expectant.”
The lady, who spoke in tears, narrated how frustrated and hopeless she and her colleagues were. “We’ve been depressed, if we are taken for Psychosis test, we will be found sick. We all have psychologically disorder, but the notification has relieved us. I can tell you that we know our stand now, it’s either we are placed somewhere or we are sacked.
This news is affecting me because I am a young Nigerian. I can call myself a young graduate because I’ve worked for six years. I don’t want to sit at home, and the labour market is already choked, so where do you want me to start from and I have families and dependents.”
She ,however, called on the Federal Government through the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun and the Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Mahmood Dutse, to intervene and save their jobs.
Our correspondent, however, gathered that the decision by the Federal Government to completely windup the agency followed the recent establishment and taking off of the Development Bank of Nigeria which has similar functions with the NERFUND.
NERFUND was established by Decree No. 2 of 1989 to act as a catalyst towards the stimulation of the rapid rise of real production enterprises in the country with a seed capital of N300million.
But the agency’s capital had grown into billions of naira, but due to poor management, the organisation had been in comatose since late 2013 losing its capacity to carry out its mandate owing to the fact that a few people have pocketed over N17.5 billion belonging to the agency.
Following the conclusion of the merger of Nigeria Industrial Development Bank (NIDB) and Nigeria Bank of Commerce and Industry (NBCI) to form Bank of Industry (BOI) in 2002, the Federal Government excluded NERFUND from the fusion of all development finance institutions (DFIs).
The Daily Times recalls that in June 2016 when workers of NERFUND took to the streets to protest the mismanagement of the agency funds by its administration, the Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, intervened by first shutting down the agency following failure to reconcile the differences between the executive management and the entire staff to forestall a further breakdown of law and order.
Few weeks after the shutdown, the minister officially instructed the workers to return to work and appointed Dr. Ezekiel Oseni in August of the same year to act as Managing Director. But one year into his appointment; the Federal Government finally approved the winding up of the agency.
When contacted on Tuesday, a senior official at the Federal Ministry of Finance said she was not aware of the issue and cannot give any detail about the winding up of the agency.
Concerted efforts by our correspondent to get the reaction of the agency’s Managing Director, Dr. Ezekiel Oseni, proved abortive as he refused to take his calls or reply text messages sent to his phone at press time
