The recent appointment of Ahmad Salihijo-Ahmad as the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Rural Electrification Agency, REA, by President Muhammadu Buhari has been discovered to have some nepotistic leanings.
Recall that on Monday, December 30, 2019, Mr Buhari had approved the appointment of Mr Salihijo-Ahmed alongside other appointments within the agency.
The Minister of Power, Engr. Mamman Sale made the disclosure through a statement signed by his Special Adviser on Media and Communications, Aaron Artimas.
The statement noted that Mr Salihijo-Ahmad is a renewable energy expert, who holds two Masters Degrees in Development Studies and Project Planning, as well as “vast knowledge and planning experience in power sector development”.
However, an investigation carried out by the Premium Times revealed that Mr Salihijo-Ahmad is a level 12 public official and the son of Salihijo Mohammed Ahmed, a former managing director of Afri-Project Consortium.
Mr Salihijo was a major project consultant to the Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF) and he died on July 7, 1999.
While alive, he was a strong ally of Mr Buhari, who was then the Chairman of PTF.
While the statement described the appointee as person with “vast knowledge and experience in power sector development”, the newspaper revealed that Mr Ahmad graduated in 2006 with BSc Electronic Engineering.
“After graduation, he served the mandatory National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, in 2007 and was employed in 2008 at the infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission, ICRC, where Mansur Ahmed, one-time Chairman of the Nigeria Economic Summit Group, NESG, headed,” the report revealed.
