The President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), Thursday evening, terminated the appointment of Saratu Umar as Executive Secretary/Chief Executive Officer of the Nigeria Investment Promotion Commission, with immediate effect.
In a directive to the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Niyi Adebayo, the President also mandated the most senior director in the Commission to immediately take over in the interim.
The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, revealed this in a statement he signed on Thursday titled ‘President Buhari terminates appointment of Saratu Umar as NIPC boss.’
The directive brings Umar’s eight-month stay to an end.
It comes barely a week after a Premium Times report unearthed fault lines in the Commission’s administration.
According to the report, Umar who heads an agency responsible for driving much-needed investments into Nigeria had been facing a “leadership competence” crisis putting her at loggerheads with her subordinates.
First appointed in July 2014 by then President Goodluck Jonathan, Saratu was shown the door in 2015 barely two weeks after staff of the NIPC called for her removal.
But on July 5, 2022, Buhari, approved Umar’s reappointment into the position for a fresh term of five years.
At the time, a statement signed by the President’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, said she holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics from Ahmadu Bello University and an MBA in Finance and Banking.
“She is trained locally and internationally in all core aspects of her career, as well as in leadership, strategy, general management, risk management and corporate governance,” it read in part.
The Presidency also described Umar as a technocrat, reformer, strategist, economist, investment promotion expert, export development specialist, with experience in banking and finance, investment and consulting segments of the public and private sectors of Nigeria.
It said she transformed the NIPC into a “world-class investment agency and minimised revenue leakages, saving the country N500bn, for which she received a commendation from the Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Commission.”
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