President Muhammadu Buhari has sacked the Director-General of the National Directorate of Employment (NDE), Dr Nasiru Argungu.
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, disclosed this in a statement on Tuesday titled, ‘President Buhari relieves Dr. Nasiru Mohammed Ladan Argungu as the DG of the National Directorate of Employment’.
Although Shehu did not state any reason for Argungu’s sacking, it is believed to be related to the delay in the payment funds meant for the 774,000 beneficiaries.
The statement read, “President Muhammadu Buhari has relieved Dr Nasiru Mohammed Ladan Argungu from the position of the Director-General of the National Directorate of Employment.
“The directive which was given on Friday, December 4, 2020, is to be effective from Monday, December 7, 2020.
“Meanwhile, the Supervising Minister of the Agency, the Minister of State, Labour and Employment, has been directed to nominate an acting DG from amongst the most senior directors based on competencies and seniority to take over from Dr. Argungu until a substantive holder of the post is appointed by Mr. President.”
The proposed 774,000 jobs has caused a faceoff between the members of the National Assembly and the Minister of state, Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo.
The minister insisted he was asked to be in charge of the jobs by the president while members of NASS countered that it is one of their duties to see to the “distribution” of the slots for the jobs.
The National Assembly eventually asked the NDE to take charge.
Meanwhile, the president on Wednesday appointed Abubakar Fikpo to replace Argungu in acting capacity.
The Deputy Director, Press and Public Relations, in the ministry, Charles Akpan, who disclosed this in a statement, said Fikpo’s appointment took effect from December 7.
He noted that the appointment of the acting director-general was to ensure there was no vacuum in running the affairs of the NDE.
“Following the directive of Mr. President relieving Dr. Nasiru Mohammed Ladan Argungu as the Director-General of the National Directorate of Employment (NDE), you are hereby directed to take over as the acting Director-General of the agency pending ratification by Mr. President. This is to ensure there is no vacuum in the administration of the agency,” the statement quoted the minister as saying in a letter to the acting director-general.
Until his appointment, Fikpo was a director at the North-West zonal office of the NDE in Kaduna.
