Dr. Christopher Kolade, the revered media guru, diplomat and administrator, has resigned his appointment as Chairman of Nigeria’s interventionist agency, the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P), News Express can resign report this morning.

“He has had enough,” a reliable source close to Dr. Kolade and SURE-P told News Express. “He submitted his letter of resignation to President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday.”

Widely addressed as “Mr. Integrity”, 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.

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.