by Hauwa Gambo

First, he promised critics and nay-sayers that he would never quit his job as chairman of the Chairman of the Subsidy Re-investment and Empowerment Programme, SURE-P, set up by the government of Goodluck Jonathan to manage monies that were supposedly saved from reduction in amount spent on fuel subsidy. Then on Tuesday, April 9, aides reacted to rumours that he was in fact quitting the assignment. They denied it.

Apparently, that’s all a smokescreen, according to this Premium Times report.

“The question is not whether I should resign or not but when,” they report Dr. Kolade telling confidants in Lagos recently.

What seems to be the problem, sir?

Mr. Kolade’s grouse is hinged on the negation of his terms of accepting the job in the first place, which is non-interference in operational implementation and in reporting structure.

Sources said Mr. Kolade is frustrated by the continuous political interference in his operations by the Vice President, Namadi Sambo.

“Dr. Kolade thinks that the vice president has become the key interfering mechanism in the sure-p mandate at this point,” a source said.

PREMIUM TIMES learnt that Mr. Sambo got himself into the mix through a mechanism he helped engineer, called the State Implementation Committee, SIC; designed to recruit 5000 unemployed graduates in each state.

One of the mandate of the SURE-P is to create jobs for thousands of Nigerians across the country. While the SURE-P board favoured the National Directorate of Employment, NDE, as a recruiting body, the vice president favoured the creation of the so called SIC.

In no time, the SIC became a drain pipe for recruiting all forms of political associates and passing easy money to them, our source said.

“The State Implementation Committee has become constant avenue to grab money and build political ambitions,” associates felt the Chairman now believes.

Part of the difficulty also appears to be the secretary of the SURE-P committee, Nze Akachuckwu Nwankpo, a close aide to President Goodluck Jonathan, who reportedly has an ambition to be Governor in Anambra State, when elections are held there later this year.

“Nwankpo’s priorities appear to lean in support of programmes that will assist 2015 aspirations, and that of President Jonathan,” a source said.

Family sources said pressure is also mounting on Mr. Kolade to save his reputation and walk away from the job. Mr. Kolade is noted for the belief that one must always complete what one starts, but relations are telling him that progress is not only measured in those terms.

“There are things people start but cannot complete,” a relative said.

The Vice-President gives a rather confusing response to the allegation of interference however.

“The Vice President has no business with the SURE-P. Whatever the SURE-P does, it’s their business. Since the SURE-P was created for independent public, why then will the vice president have interest in SURE-P?” Umar Sani, Mr. Sambo’s spokesperson, said.

“The Vice President only interferes when he realises that the work is slow or maybe work is not going well.”

Mr. Sani also admitted that his boss co-ordinated the list of the thousands of people to be employed by the program.

“The Vice President only collected list of those to be employed by all states and then handed it over to the SURE-P to take over,” he said.

“There are people who want to cause confusion there (in SURE-P) by carrying such rumours. So please dismiss such rumour that the vice president asked the chairman to issue employment letters.”

Mr. Egbunike, the SURE-P spokesperson, declined comments on the level of interference in its activities by the vice president. He referred all our enquiries to Mr. Kolade, who hardly talks to the press.

Now, when the SURE-P spokesperson asks the media to speak directly to the SURE-P chairman, we guess it is safe to say that, yes, things have fallen apart.