Despite the barrage of criticisms aimed at him, the former Nigerian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom and Chairman, Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P) has ruled out his resignation from the job.
Kolade, who made this announcement while speaking at a media luncheon in Lagos, said that the committee would ensure the better welfare of Nigerians.
“I will continue to work for Nigerians and we will not abdicate this country and nobody will take my integrity away,” he said.
He added that he will defend himself if he is attacked and such attacks won’t make him resign.
“The SURE-P committee and the National Assembly and everybody are supposed to be working for the nation, not for individuals,” he said.
Kolade said that the members of the committee would ensure transparency, probity and accountability, while noting that the total budget for the running of the SURE-P activities was not N2.2bn as reported by some dailies, but rather N1bn.
Out of this amount, he explained, N220million had been spent on the secretarial activities of the committee.
The chairman noted that funds allocated to the committee for project execution was N180billion, which amounts to 42 per cent of the partial subsidy removal. The rest of the 52 per cent went to the states and local governments. He also disclosed that the Federal Government had predetermined the projects the committee was to execute even before its inauguration.
“At inauguration, all that will happen this year has been predetermined and the members lack the power to choose projects,” he said. Despite this, he gave Nigerians the assurance that the major agenda of the committee was to make life better for ordinary Nigerians.
A member of the committee, Professor Kunle Ade-Wahab, said that some interventions in roads, transportation and youth employment had been carried out by the committee.
He said that the committee had also invested in the health care sector through the mother and child initiative to reduce mortality rate.