By Mayowa Ayodele
THE Abuja Division of the National Industrial Court (NIC) is set to deliver judgement on a case brought before it by two dismissed employees of the Nigerian Incentive-based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL), Olalekan Olusanya and Olusola Omole.
Both Olusanya and Omole, had separately approached the court following their dismissal from the services of NIRSAL praying the court to declare the actions unlawful. They also asked to court to award them punitive and exemplary damages
Judgments on both matters are scheduled to be delivered on Thursday, December 8, 2022 at the NIC headquarters in Abuja.
National Record gathered that Olusanya and Omole were among employees sacked by the then Managing Director of NIRSAL, Mr Aliyu Abdulhameed, for not being loyal to him.
The appointment of about seven other staff of NIRSAL were also alleged to have unceremoniously been terminated in July 2017 by the Abdulhameed-led management just three months after their employment on suspicion that they were not loyal to him. Some others were subsequently demoted and transferred on the same allegation of disloyalty to the MD.
Fraud allegation and MD’s removal
Mr Abdulhameed was recently removed by President Muhammadu Buhari over fraud allegations.
An unimpeachable insider familiar with the removal of Mr Abdulhameed, who however pleaded anonymity for not being the authorised spokesperson of NIRSAL, told National Record that the presidential action came after several cover-ups failed.
According to the source, the appointment of an Acting MD will be announced soon while scouting for a substantive MD for NIRSAL.
Abdulhameed, our source stated, had been siphoning money from the establishment since he was appointed to office in 2015.
NIRSAL is a US$500 million non-bank financial institution created by the Central Bank of Nigeria with the mandate to manage agribusiness-related credit risks in Nigeria.
Origin of Fraud
The fraud, our source revealed, started with a NIRSAL wheat project worth N5.6 billion for the cultivation-to-harvest of 20,000 hectares of dry season wheat in Kano and Jigawa states which was initiated by the NIRSAL in 2018.
The project was intended to see 20,000 smallholder farmers in the selected areas make earnings of N350,000 over a 4-month cycle using mechanised systems of farming. The funds were disbursed but the project was not executed by NIRSAL.
Our source revealed that the project, which however turned out to be a money-siphoning scheme, was allegedly initiated and coordinated by the MD’s Technical Advisor, Mr. Oluwatosin Ariyo.
Daily Trust had reported earlier this year quoting farmers complaining about the deception by officials of the project. A farmer, one Salisu Bako, was quoted to have said: “When they came in 2018, they said they were from the federal government, which gave us confidence in the proposed wheat project. But that was the last time we saw or heard from them because they never came back. The promises they made, such as the digging of wells and provision of tractors for the project were unfulfilled. Even those whose farms were hired were not settled.”
The report also quoted one Raaya Alhaji Idi, a 65-year-old farmer in Kauyen Garba, stating that he was among those chosen for the wheat project but became disappointed because it turned out to be a hoax. “After making my farm available for the project, they promised me fertilizer and a well as a source of water and other inputs for the wheat plantation. But I never saw any of these thereafter. They never came back or communicated with us through anybody from this community. Indeed, we were scammed,” Idi said.
In June 2022, online newspaper, SaharaReporters, also reported how Abdulhameed allegedly siphoned close to N1 billion using the private bank account of the agency’s Head of Finance, Idris Issa Aweda, as a conduit. Aweda used three personal bank accounts: FCMB (4986133010), GTB (0245155058), and Stanbic IBTC (0021195810) to allegedly receive suspicious payments on behalf of Abdulhameed.
NIRSAL handles most of the Agric loans to farmers by the CBN, especially its popular Anchor Borrower Programme (ABP). The cases of fraud became rampant in NIRSAL forcing the CBN to in 2021 expressed concern that it suspects fraudulent activities in NIRSAL loans under the Anchor Borrowers Programme (ABP) and ordered the suspension of such loans until all previous beneficiaries had paid back.
Cover-ups
Our source revealed that since 2019, there had been several instances of exposed fraud in NIRSAL which were covered up by the MD.
According to our source, in 2019, NIRSAL’s then Head of Internal Audit, Olalekan Olusanya, allegedly unearthed several financial scandals, which were communicated to Abdulhameed as the MD and other heads of units. Rather than take action, the MD allegedly instructed Olusanya to drop the report.
Our source revealed that on November 4, 2019, NIRSAL Board’s Audit Committee, which is a high-powered delegation of the CBN headed by Mr. Edward L. Adamu, deputy governor of CBN Corporate Services, held a meeting with Olusanya and his team of auditors. Shortly before the meeting with the CBN deputy governor, Abdulhameed allegedly ordered Olusanya to strike out details of fraud from his report.
However, Olusanya, our source revealed, instead sent the fraud-related documents from his official email to his personal email before he carried out the MD’s instruction in order to retain the evidence himself for the sake of future defence if the need arises.
According to the insider, in December 2019, the Nigerian Senate received a petition from concerned Nigerians indicting the MD of fraud, corruption and money laundering amongst other allegations. However, Abdulhameed believed that the petition against him was instigated by Olusanya, who had access to the company’s financial transactions and had discovered many frauds.
On December 11, 2019, Abdulhameed ordered a query to be issued to Olusanya, asking him to explain why he breached the email policy of the company by sending official documents to himself. Afterward, Olusanya’s official laptop and phone were seized from him.
On January 6, 2020, Olusanya was redeployed from Internal Audit to Agricultural Extension and Field Services Unit. Even though he resumes work by 8:00am and closes at 5:00pm, his official laptop and phone which were seized were not returned while his official email was suspended.
Next to be railroaded out of NIRSAL was Olusola Omole, our source revealed. Omole, before his sack, was the head of technical unit with responsibility across the 36 states of the federation. got into trouble with the NIRSAL boss after he was sighted walking alongside the former Head of Internal Audit, Olalekan Olusanya, within the premises of the agency.
According to our source, Omole was not given the chance for fair hearing before his dismissal. He was accused of violating NIRSAL’s confidentiality and secrecy agreement, although no query was issued to him, neither was he made to face any disciplinary panel over the specific allegations before he was dismissed.
Quizzed by EFCC
Earlier in February, Abdulhameed was quizzed by the EFCC but he repeatedly denied any wrongdoing. They also quizzed the Assistant Head of Finance, the Head of Procurement, and his assistant as well as all consultants working with NIRSAL. Since then, nothing has been heard of the EFCC investigations.
