Uju Kennedy-Ohanenye
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Uju Kennedy-Ohanenye, the Minister of Women Affairs, has opened a can of worms, claiming that some individuals in government are gunning for her head because she refused to sign a $500 million World Bank loan request.
The minister had on July 10, 2024, engaged the House of Representatives Committee on Women Affairs and Social Development in a heated argument at the National Assembly Complex in Abuja, when she appeared before the committee to address allegations of diverting N1.5 billion meant for paying contractors.
However, Kennedy-Ohanenye in a phone interview with THISDAY, disposed that her travails was orchestrated due to her refusal to sign a $500 million loan and a previous $100 million loan.
She explained that the loans included a 40% kickback for World Bank staff in Nigeria disguised as consultation fees.
The minister raised an arm that her life is in danger because of her stance, saying it was the reason she is being targeted by the National Assembly and other entities.
She stressed her desire to implement plans that would genuinely benefit the people and lampooned the misuse of public funds for trivial purposes.
“There is a $500 million loan that was meant to be signed by me, but I refused to sign. There was also a case of $100 million earlier as well. Find out what it was meant for,” the minister said.
“All the loans they collect, including World Bank loans, etc, are you aware that the same World Bank staff in Nigeria takes back 40 per cent and calls it consultation fees?
“These are things you people should look into. You people should focus on where the problem is and let them leave me alone.
“Now my life is at stake because I refused to sign the $500 million loan. Let me tell you, if I sign that loan today, I am entitled to five per cent of the money, but I refused to sign it. It is part of why the National Assembly and all of them are after me.
“And that 40 per cent they take is a secret, I found it out. Why should anybody give us a loan and you still direct us how to use the loan, and you take 40 per cent and provide us with a consultant that will take it, and they will take it?
“I told them $100 million is too much to use to teach our women how to save money, we can teach them, let them bring the $100 million and give it to those women and use it to know what to do with their lives.
“Let me do things that would impact the lives of the people. I made sure of the action plan.”
