FG explains closure of NERFUND

The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Finance, Mahmoud Isa-Dutse, has said that the closure of the National Economic Reconstruction Fund (NERFUND) was based on the recommendations of the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) special examination report of September 30, 2013.

Isa-Dutse who disclosed this in an interview with newsmen in Abuja on Sunday said the closure was in the best interest of the country.

According to him, the government took the decision to close the office because it was too expensive to run it for recovery purposes only.

He said, “No local or foreign bank would lend money to them because their balance sheet was so bad and they still had to pay salaries and overheads.

“So when government decided to wind up the company, one of the things we did was to cut on the number of staff. So we gave them a very generous voluntary exit package to keep industrial peace.

“Many of them, six contract staff and 33 senior management staff who had spent many years there, took advantage of the offer and voluntarily resigned, collected their benefit and left.

“But the younger ones, of average age of 35 years, stayed back and continued the recovery effort and as of the date of closure, we had 49 staff left.

“You see, NERFUND was an intervention agency and not a regular or permanent one like the Central Bank, NDIC or the core civil service.

“Under their terms of service, government is not obliged to transfer them to other ministries like in the civil service where you are basically guaranteed employment till retirement,” Isa-Dutse said.

He, however, said he wrote to the Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Winifred Oyo-Ita, in October 2017 to apprise her of the development and solicit her intervention with the remaining staff.

Isa-Dutse, also the Chairman, NERFUND’s Interim Management Committee, added that in 2001 that the Ahmed Joda Committee and the Stephen Oronsaye’s 2014 Presidential Committee on the Restructuring and Rationalisation of Federal Government Agencies had also recommended the closure of the Fund.