FG shuts NERFUND, sends all workers on indefinite leave

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.