Women Affairs Minister alleges victimisation for rejecting controversial $500M loan
The Minister of Women Affairs, Uju Kennedy-Ohanenye, has claimed that she is facing backlash from government factions due to her refusal to endorse a $500 million loan from the World Bank.
During an incident on July 10, 2024, tensions escalated at the National Assembly Complex in Abuja, where a near confrontation between Kennedy-Ohanenye and the House of Representatives Committee on Women Affairs and Social Development was narrowly avoided.
The minister had been summoned to address allegations regarding the misallocation of N1.5 billion intended for contractor payments by ministry officials.
READ ALSO: Reps probe N1.5bn allegedly diverted by women affairs ministry officials
In a phone interview with THISDAY, the minister revealed, “There is a $500 million loan that I was meant to sign, but I declined to do so. There was also a previous situation regarding a $100 million loan. Please investigate what these funds were designated for.”
“All the loans they collect, including World Bank loans, etc, are you aware that the same World Bank staff in Nigeria takes back 40 per cent and calls it consultation fees?
“These are things you people should look into. You people should focus on where the problem is and let them leave me alone.”
She added: “Now, my life is at stake because I refused to sign the $500 million loan. Let me tell you, if I sign that loan today, I am entitled to five per cent of the money, but I refused to sign it. It is part of why the National Assembly and all of them are after me.
“And that 40 per cent they take is a secret, I found it out. Why should anybody give us a loan and you still direct us how to use the loan, and you take 40 per cent and provide us with a consultant that will take it, and they will take it?
“I told them $100 million is too much to use to teach our women how to save money, we can teach them, let them bring the $100 million and give it to those women and use it to know what to do with their lives.
“Let me do things that would impact lives of the people. I made sure that the action plan.”
Proofreading and editing by Fa’izatu Aliyu Doma, Journalist at Neptune Prime.
