FG shuts NERFUND, sends all workers on indefinite leave

Ifeanyi Onuba,Abuja
The Federal Government on Thursday shut down the operations of
the National Economic Reconstruction Fund following the crises
that have crippled the agency within the last three weeks.
It also directed all workers of the agency to proceed on indefinite
leave pending further action on the agency.
A notice on the shut down of the agency was on Thursday issued
by the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Finance ,
Mahmoud Dutse to members of staff of the Organisation.
The notice made available to our correspondent which was signed
by Dutse, reads, “Following recent developments in your
organization and failure to reconcile the differences between the
executive management and the entire staff , inspite of the
ministry’s intervention on the matter, the Federal Ministry of
Finance has decided to close down your agency with immediate
effect to forestall a further breakdown of law and order.
“Consequently, all members of staff should proceed on an
indefinite leave pending further instructions from the ministry.”
When contacted, the Media Adviser to the Minister of Finance, Mr
Festus Akanbi, also confirmed the development.
He said in a telephone interview, “It is true, NERFUND has been
closed down.”
The Federal Government had through the Ministry of Finance set
up a committee to investigate the allegations of corruption
leveled against the current interim management of the agency
The workers of NERFUND which is under the ministry of finance
had last month disrupted business activities at the headquarters
of the agency over allegations of mismanagement and
embezzlement of funds running into about N700m.
The workers,who later took their protest to the headquarters of
the ministry of finance had lamented the failure of successive
governments to make a pronouncement over the status of the
organisation.