By Rabiu Usman
Olusola Omole was dismissed from the Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) in March after an internal investigation found him guilty of sabotaging the organization and promoting his own personal interests.
But since he was handed his letter of dismissal, Omole had taken to social and online media to disparage the management of NIRSAL and present himself as a whistle blower who was victimized for exposing alleged corruption and marginalization of the Southwest in the operations of NIRSAL.
Although NIRSAL had issued statements exposing Omole as a disgruntled ex-staff who has a history of lying and alleged criminality, this website went further to dig deeper into why he’s fighting back.
Investigations showed that Omole was promoted to head the PMRO Technical Coordinating Unit at the NIRSAL Headquarters in Abuja. The agency had started a restructuring to redirect most of its operations to the field where its services are mostly needed, and to encourage states key into the transformation from agriculture to agribusiness.
But After a few months at the head office, Omole was redeployed to Ondo State to promote the agenda of NIRSAL in the state. He was posted on January 9, 2020 and asked to commence his annual leave immediately after resuming at the Akure Project Monitoring, Remediation and Reporting Office(PMRO).
But as soon as he left the head office for Akure, capital of Ondo State, Omole began to unravel and show his true colours. While he gave staff of Akure office the impression that he did not like his posting to the state, that it was a punitive measure against him, he had secretly perfected his plan to make personal profit from his new assignment.
His assignment to Akure was meant to give NIRSAL a foothold in the Southwest region to promote the transformation from agriculture to agribusiness. But instead of advancing the official agenda of NIRSAL, he chose to help himself and work against the organization..
An audit report in March, shortly before he was fired, claimed that Omole started using his position to engage in private consultancy with groups and Ondo State government but using NIRSAL and the Central Bank of Nigeria as cover for his activities.
“After investigating the staff of Akure, Abeokuta and Ado-Ekiti PMROs, we found out that Omole had been engaging the Development Funds Offices (DFOs) of CBN and other State Governments officials to promote his private enterprise in Abeokuta, Akure and Ado-Ekiti. It was also reported that he visits radio stations to air campaigns for public subscription to the services of some companies he promotes,” the report stated.
The report, signed by Iliya Nkosi Smah, Head of NIRSAL’S Internal Audit, also claimed that Omole started a campaign of calumny against the management of NIRSAL as a strategy to penetrate the region. The report said NIRSAL investigative team to the Southwest found that Omole was “misinforming the public and staff members in Akure, Abeokuta and Ado-Ekiti” about what the management was doing.
Omole had reportedly accused the management of NIRSAL of marginalizing the Southwest region in its activities, stressing that petitions had been written against Abdulhameed and that he would soon be removed as MD.
The audit committee, following its findings, subsequently recommended that Omole should be “summarily dismissed with immediate effect, without benefits; in line with internal policies and Ethics for professional practice.”
One of his accomplices at the Akure office who was queried, Oluwadare Olonibua, exonerated himself saying Omole misled him and made him believe he was carrying out the mandate of the head office. A source close to Olonibua showed this website a copy of his reply to the query where he explained that:
“I do not know Mr Omole’s antecedents but I broke ties with him few days after his arrival in the state as regards his activities when I realized that he wasn’t ready to work with the NIRSAL office in Ekiti State, having realized that his mission was a personal one and not an official assignment from NIRSAL office as he claimed when he first arrived in Ekiti State…”
Since his dismissal, Omole has continued the campaign to discredit the management of NIRSAL to ensure the MD’s tenure is not renewed so he could find his way back into the system.