The immediate-past Director General (DG), Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Mr. Alex Okoh, has expressed delight over the clarification by the Presidency on the mode of his exit from the privatisation agency.
The Presidency, on Monday, had announced that Okoh and the Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), Tunde Irukera, were dismissed.
The statement conveying their removal was titled, “President Tinubu Dismisses Two Chief Executive Officers,” and signed by Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale.
Following public concerns on why the word ‘dismissed’ was used in characterising the removal of the two former chief executives of the federal agencies, the Presidency, about 24 hours later, retracted the word ‘dismissed’, saying they were instead ‘relieved’ of their appointments.
Reacting to the retraction, Okoh in a post on his Facebook page on Wednesday, said he was initially quite disturbed by the tone of his removal, but delighted that the mode of the exit has now been clarified to remove any connotation on his integrity.
The post read: “Dear Friends, on Monday 8th January, 2024 my attention was called by a friend, to a news item about the decision of Mr. President with regard to my exit from the Bureau of Public Enterprises.
“I was initially quite disturbed by the tone of the news publication but delighted that the mode of the exit has now been clarified to remove any connotation on my integrity.
“Please permit to say that it has been an incredible experience working in government for the past six years and eight months.
“I’m grateful for the opportunity to serve my country in the space of privatisation and economic reforms. I thank the extremely professional young men and women at the Bureau of Public Enterprises for their commitment to the ideals of efficient optimisation of public assets and Government Owned Enterprises.
“I am certain that posterity will deliver a decent verdict on the various projects and reforms that we delivered across key sectors of the economy, and more importantly on the high sense of integrity with which they were delivered.”
He expressed gratitude to God for the opportunity, adding that he was elated to have served the nation without blemish.
Ndubuisi Francis
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