Juliet Chukkas-Onaeko, the director general of Industrial Training Fund (ITF) has fired back at critics who alleged that she used the agency’s N700 million to fund the re-election bid of former president Goodluck Jonathan. The ITF boss explained that there no iota of true in the said allegation made by some members of the staff of the organization. Chukkas-Onaeko cleared the air over this allegation in Abuja on Thursday, December 10, during a media briefing. She described the allegation as ‘ridiculous and painful’. The ITF boss noted that those spreading the ‘falsehood’ should understand that it was impossible for her to sign off such whopping amount of money without appropriation. “I am sure that when they wrote that thing they expected me to go and commit suicide or for the President to just shoot my head.
“If I were going to steal money to fund somebody’s campaign, where did they expect me to get it from? N700 million is not what you just sign off like that. “The former Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr Olusegun Aganda, under whom I served, is a professional, not a politician.
“I don’t know of other chief executive officers under him, but nobody ever told me to bring money for campaign; PDP never asked me for any money,’’ Chukkas-Onaeko explained. The ITF DG also dismissed the allegation that she transferred N2.1 to the Nigerian Employers Consultative Association (NECA) without due process. She stressed that the said fund was already captured in the 2014 budget to fund ITF-NECE Technical Skills Development Programme launched in 2009.
“By the time I came on board in 2014, they had already disbursed about 70 per cent of the money. That budget wasn’t drawn up by me. “What I saw in the trend was that on a yearly basis, the money allocated for the programme was increased by between 10 and 20 per cent to reflect current economic realities. “But, in the 2015 budget, which is the only one I have presided over, I refused to approve the increase. “Instead, we increased the number of participating companies from below 10 at inception to the current 14 which is against the initial arrangement. I expected to be commended for that,’’ she said
Chukkas-Onaeko noted that her problems started when she blocked avenues of leakage of fund in the agency. Raymond Dokpesi, the chairman of Daar communications had been charged to court by the federal government on Tuesday, December 8, over alleged receipt of N2.1 billion from the former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki from funds meant for the purchase of arms.