The National Accountability Crusade Vanguard (NACV) has called on President Ahmed Tinubu to urgently rethink the decision of appointing Dr. Shamseldeen Babatunde Ogunjimi as the Acting Accountant General of the Federation.
In a release signed personally and made available to the media, the Executive Director of the group Dr. Kamarudeen Salu described Ogunjimi as an opportunist and a misfit for the office of the Accountant General of the Federation.
The group described the several years of Mr. Ogunjimi public service in financial management across the public and private sectors as an extensive merry-go-round and a waste, as he has added nothing but only became Publilius Syrus, rolling stone that gathers no moss. He cannot therefore sow in Samaria and expect to reap in Jerusalem.
The statement drew the attention of Mr. President to all the positions held, including Director of Funds at the OAGF and Director of Finance and Accounts at the Ministry of Foreign Affair reiterating that all those positions have only led to monumental waste of public funds and goodwill, as he has woefully refused to successfully deliver on his mandates and schedules of duties.
They also drew the President’s attention to the Annual Performance Evaluation Records (APER) form and series of promotional examinations, where Ogunjimi refused to measure up to both the grading and the eligibility scores for any of the promotional examinations, but had to buy his way over at each point. Describing such as a very bad example to the lower officers.
A chartered accountant, certified fraud examiner, chartered stockbroker, and chartered security and investment specialist, Mr. Ogunjimi failed miserably in juxtaposing his ascribed knowledge to the everyday running of his schedules. It is very clear that his academic qualifications; both the Bachelor of Science (B. Sc.) in Accountancy and a Master’s in Finance and Accounting, were either a factor of calculated mistake or a testimony to the fallen standard of education, as he is unable through the discharge of his duties to give proper account of those scholarships.
Mr Ogunjimi lacks competence, trustworthiness, integrity and the necessary basic transparency demanding of such office, and can therefore not be able to effectively manage nor advance the economic reform agenda of the present government.
The group questioned the possibility of obtaining the West African School Certificate in 1985 from the Government College, Ikorodu, and graduating from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, in 1990 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Accountancy, within a period of four years, in a country bedeviled by constant strikes and educational dislocations. They also wondered how within the same period he equally obtained his Master’s Degree in Accounting and Finance from the University of Lagos.
While doubting his entire credentials, they describe as farcical and a fluke or the subject of the cash-and-carry syndrome in our educational system his several credentials. Consequently, they strongly believe that such character lacks the moral imperative and fortitude to effectively and efficiently drive the fiscal reforms and ensure transparency in government finance.
“How can someone who came into the civil service in 2000 become the AG-F in January, 2025, a period of just 24 years in service? They questioned. Stating that, he lacks the basic bureaucratic experience and competencies for such lofty and tasking office.
He has spent all his life and career in the questionable private sector from 1991, where he is assumed to have worked as an accountant at Humana Diagnostic and Heart Centre in Lagos and only came into the Civil service in 2000 and it is therefore unfair to come in and pick the highest office” they stated.
“We finally state that, Shamseldeen Babatunde Ogunjimi is unfit to occupy the position of Accountant General of the Federation. We therefore unequivocally call on Mr. President to rethink the decision but allow only capable personalities to fill the vacancy when Madein finally bows out of office” they concluded.
