The Senate is set to clear Stella Okotete, this is as President Bola Ahmed Tinubu reportedly assigned her ministerial portfolio ahead, ENigeria Newspaper reports.
Stella Okotete, a controversial ministerial nominee who came under criticism following alleged discrepancies in her academic records as well as controversies surrounding her days as Executive Director of Nigeria Export-Import (NEXIM) Bank, a job she took in 2017.
The Senate had allegedly stalled her confirmation pending when the bottlenecks are resolved, however recent development which ENigeria Newspaper is abreast of indicates that Okotete was allegedly almost sacrificed on the altar of politics, but for the timely intervention of her political godfather and former Deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo-Agege.
ENigeria Newspaper reports that consequent to the timely intervention of the former Deputy Senate President, Tinubu has now considered pleas on her behalf and sent a message to the Godswill Akpabio-led Senate to quickly put her in the clear. Meanwhile, sources revealed that Stella Okotete may proceed to the Ministry of Youth as Minister of State.
Recall that the Tinubu-led Federal Government recently separated the Ministry of Sports Development from Youth, unlike what was obtained under previous administrations. A former member of the House of Representatives, Abubakar Momoh, who is from Edo State, is now the head of the new Ministry of Youth.
While repelling rumours surrounding her alleged academic records which occupied the front burner weeks ago, Stella Okotete through her lawyer, Babatunde Ogala and Co, wrote to relevant institutions to verify the authenticity of her certificates and degrees. The documents however obtained showed that Okotete graduated from Benson Idahosa University in 2007 with a second-class lower grade in International Studies and Diplomacy and concluded the compulsory National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) from Kebbi State in 2009.
Other documents seen indicated her stint at Harvard Kennedy School as well as a Master’s degree from Noun University.
Recall that her role as the Executive Director of the Nigeria Export-Import (NEXIM Bank), was with the mandate to promote economic diversification and grow non-oil export revenue.
Indices however showed that Okotete took the bank’s profit from a negative of over 8 billion naira to a plus of nearly 4 billion naira in 2021.
Through careful reforms and a change of institutional mindset, she cut the bank’s non-performing loans from 94% in 2017 to 29% as of December 2021. Official records have it that the total asset of the bank grew by over 200%, and additional funding of over 100 billion naira was attracted within the same time period.
