The stand-off between the National Assembly and the embattled Minister of Women Affairs, Uju Kennedy-Ohanenye has taken a new twist with an allegation that the minister is being victimised over her refusal to sign a $500 million World Bank loan request.
The Minister stated this during an interview with ThisDay revealing that when such loans are obtained, World Bank staff in Nigeria take back 40 per cent.
The minister has been having a running battle with the lawmakers and recently engaged in a shouting match during a committee hearing.
Precisely, on July 10, 2024, the minister appeared before the House of Representatives Committee on Women Affairs and Social Development over an allegation that she diverted N1.5bn meant for the payment of contractors by officials of the ministry she heads.
The hearing degenerated into a near physical confrontation between Kennedy-Ohanenye and some house members.
However, the embattled Minister has now revealed that she’s a victim of a well calculated plot from a cabal.
She said, “There is a $500 million loan that was meant to be signed by me, but I refused to sign. There was also a case of $100 million earlier as well. Find out what it was meant 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 lamented that, “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 the lives of the people. I made sure that is the action plan.”