NSIA: How Abba Kyari Passed “Stringent Recruitment” before appointment

Facts have emerged on how Aisha Abba Kyari, daughter of President Muhammadu Buhari’s Chief of Staff, secured her recent appointment as an Assistant Vice President at the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA).

Investigations have shown that contrary to insinuations that her appointment could have been influenced by her father, Aisha Abba Kyari actually went through what sources at NSIA described as “stringent recruitment” which started in 2018.

A civil rights organization, Coalition Against Corruption and Bad Governance (CACOBAG) had alleged that Abba Kyari’s appointment violated set procedure at the NSIA, adding that her position was not advertised and that she did not meet the criteria for appointment.

Abba Kyari But investigations revealed that her recruitment did not violate or contravene the set recruitment process at the NSIA, which clearly has a robust and stringent recruitment policy that has enabled it to attract and continue to retain world class talents. Ms Abba-kyari’s recruitment was based on her application for one of the positions duly advertised by NSIA in mid-2018 while her selection for the post was based on her academic qualifications, international and local work experiences.

She also went through an interview process that all staff in her level must pass through, before she was found worthy of the appointment. Investigations show that recruitment into NSIA is deliberately stringent in order to ensure that only suitable and competent people are on the staff roll of the organization. This fact is demonstrated in the consistently impressive returns of the NSIA which has made it one of the best run sovereign wealth agencies in the world. Further indications of this are the positive growth trend of returns by the Authority, a trend which we gathered, would be further reinforced when the latest numbers are released. CACOBAG had also alleged that her appointment is in the “highest level” category in the organisation” which required an average work experience of 10 years. But responding, Titilope Olubiyi, Head, Corporate Communications at NSIA said the allegations were based on false information and mischief. “The clear mischief in the reports can be seen in the very false and unsubstantiated statements it contains: The report claims that AVP is the ‘highest level in the organisation’. This is not only false, but mischievous given AVP is the 9th level out of NSIA’s 22-level grading system. “The report also claimed that she was given a car 6 months ahead, when the position does not entitle the staff to a car in the first place. In fact, she will require 2 promotion cycles to qualify for a car entitlement. The report also claims that the candidate’s package was N32m, which is false! Olubiyi also faulted quotes attributed to NSIA directors in some media reports saying they “are also entirely false.” She said there was no time when any of the directors of NSIA made such statements and neither was there any document to validate the purported accounts as published. “There is no correlation between the recruitment process of the candidate, and the approval process of an ED or Board member. These are mutually exclusive and independent events.” · On the allegation that the Board members of NSIA refused to interview Abba Kyari, she also described it as false. “In actual fact, a Board member in the appropriate sub-committee of the Board participated in the process.” CACOBAG has asked the Presidency to investigate the appointment which it called a “scam”, failing which it would “commence a series of lawful civil actions in a matter of days to compel the Buhari administration” to act.