Aisha Abba Kyari, the daughter of President Muhammadu Buhari’s Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari has been appointed as an assistant vice president at the Nig
Aisha Abba Kyari, the daughter of President Muhammadu Buhari’s Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari has been appointed as an assistant vice president at the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) under secretive and controversial circumstances. Her appointment is considered controversial because it violates set procedure at the NSIA which is the legally constituted agency that manages Nigeria’s excess crude oil revenues.
Alos, the role was not publicly advertised, contrary to what is expected of such position. Besides, Aisha Abba Kyari clearly does not meet the criteria for the role.. She has just five years working experience at the National Integrated Power Project where she worked up until February 2019 when she got the NSIA role. Her appointment which is a level 3 appointment is the highest level in the organization. The average working experience in that level is 10 years.
Expectedly, members of staff at the NSIA are infuriated by the appointment. A few of the high-level personnel privy to the recruitment initially refused to interview Ms. Abba-Kyari. One of such persons include an executive director, Stella Ojekwe-Onyejeli who vehemently rejected the suggestion, describing it as ridiculous and citing the underwhelming credentials of Aisha Abba-Kyari. The ED was however arm twisted into playing along as the pending confirmation of her appointment to become a second term ED, became an instrument of blackmail.
Her appointment was eventually confirmed sometime in March 2019 after she acquiesced. Halima Buba, a board member at the NSIA who was also invited to observe the process, refused to take part. Despite the this all, Aisha Abba Kyari has since resumed with an annual package of about 32 million naira.
This is not the first time the Buhari government is involved in a secret recruitment scandal involving relatives of highly placed persons in his cabinet. A similar one occurred at the Central Bank of Nigeria in 2017 involving children of some cabinet ministers and a nephew of the president. This is despite the anti-corruption rhetoric of the Buhari administration.
