Jonathan Fires NPC Boss Festus Odimegwu<\/p>\n
Anya Replaces Nwabueze in Advisory Committee<\/p>\n
Apparently bowing to pressure from the northern political elite, President Goodluck Jonathan Thursday fired chairman of Nigeria Population Commission (NPC) Eze Festus Odimegwu.<\/p>\n
The former NPC boss had drawn the ire of the northern political elite when he, in a recent interview, faulted all past census figures for the country as unreliable.<\/p>\n
Sources said Odimegwu was forced to resign over the controversial comments or be disgraced out of office. The former Nigeria Breweries boss elected the former option.<\/p>\n
A statement from the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) said Odimegwu’s resignation took effect from October 17, 2013.<\/p>\n
Shortly after a recent meeting between Governor Musa Kwakwanso and President Jonathan, the governor captured the displeasure of the northern political elite to the controversial disclosure by the fired NPC boss.<\/p>\n
\u201cI …raised the issue of the Chairman of the National Population Commission headed by one Festus Odimegwu. We are not happy about that appointment, and think that it was a mistake,\u201d Kwakwanso told State House correspondents.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe had only one thing in alcoholic industry (sic), all his life. And my guess is that he\u2019s taking a lot of his products and that is why we feel that his appointment is a mistake because he cannot be the Chairman of NPC and at the same time attack what his predecessors have done,\u201d Kwakwanso submitted.<\/p>\n
Also on Thursday, President Jonathan approved the appointment of Professor Anya O. Anya as replacement for Professor Ben Nwabueze, who recently rejected his membership of Advisory Committee on National Dialogue.<\/p>\n
Citing ill health, 83-year old Nwabueze had rejected his appointment to the committee, and advised that a younger person be appointed to replace him.<\/p>\n
Aged 76, Anya is a Chartered biologist, Fellow and past Vice President of the Nigerian Academy of Science.<\/p>\n
The statement added that President Jonathan also approved the appointment of his former adviser on international affairs, Dr. Pius Osunyikanmi as Director General\/ Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Technical Aids Corps.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Jonathan Fires NPC Boss Festus Odimegwu Anya Replaces Nwabueze in Advisory Committee Apparently bowing to pressure from the northern political elite, President Goodluck Jonathan Thursday fired chairman of Nigeria Population…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18214,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18212","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n