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Chairman of Nigeria’s Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P), Dr. Christopher Kolade, has bowed to pressure and with rescinded his decision to resign his appointment.

News Express had this morning reported that Dr. Kolade handed in his letter of resignation to President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday but further checks showed that he has been persuaded to stay.

“He has been convinced to stay with a promise to look into his grievances,” a source close to the man widely known as “Mr. Integrity” said.

Diffrent sources at both The Presidency and the Federal Ministry of Finance confirmed that Dr.Kolade is not happy with the politicisation of SURE-P but had received assurances that something would be done about it.

Dr. Kolade has repeatedly been advised by well-meaning Nigerians to bow out honourably as SURE-P Chairman before the job tarnishes his sparkling reputation that took him decades to build.

An interventionist agency, SURE-P was introduced by the Nigerian Government to manage savings from the withdrawal of fuel subsidy in January 2012. The partial subsidy withdrawal had sparked protests that ground parts of Nigeria, forcing government to restore part of the subsidy and introduce palliatives, among them the establishmet of SURE-P.

The operations of SURE-P have however become lately politicised, with the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) hijacking some of its flagship programmes, according to insiders who spoke with News Express.

The 80 years old Dr. Kolade is a successful technocrat whose last public appointment before SURE-P was as Nigeria’s High Commissioner to Britain. Before then he had successfully managed Cadbury Nigeria after a successful career as a broadcaster and media administrator.

•Photo shows Dr. Kolade.

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