According to Platinum Times Nigeria, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has reportedly awarded Stella Okotete a ministerial portfolio, and the Senate is about to approve this.
Stella Okotete, a divisive candidate for a ministerial position, attracted criticism for purported inconsistencies in her academic transcripts and for controversy surrounding her tenure as the Executive Director of the Nigeria Export-Import (NEXIM) Bank, a position she accepted in 2017.
Although recent developments that ENigeria Newspaper is aware of suggest that Okotete was allegedly about to be sacrificed on the altar of politics, but for the prompt intervention of her political godfather and former Deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo-Agege, indicate that the Senate had allegedly stalled her confirmation pending when the bottlenecks are resolved.
According to Platinum Times, Tinubu has now given thought to her requests and requested that the Godswill Akpabio-led Senate swiftly clear her of all charges as a result of the former Deputy Senate President’s timely intervention. Stella Okotete may go on to the Ministry of Youth as a Minister of State, according to sources.
Remember that, in contrast to what was achieved under past administrations, the Tinubu-led Federal Government recently separated the Ministry of Sports Development from Youth. Abubakar Momoh, a native of Edo State and a former member of the House of Representatives, is currently in charge of the new Ministry of Youth.
Stella Okotete, through her attorney Babatunde Ogala and Co., wrote to the appropriate institutions to confirm the legitimacy of her certificates and degrees while combating rumors around her claimed academic records that were in the news a few weeks ago. The documents, however, revealed that Okotete completed the required National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) from Kebbi State in 2009 and graduated from Benson Idahosa University in 2007 with a second-class lower grade in international studies and diplomacy.
Her time at the Harvard Kennedy School and her Master’s degree from Noun University were also mentioned in other sources.
Recall that she had the responsibility of promoting economic diversification and increasing non-oil export earnings in her capacity as Executive Director of the Nigeria Export-Import (NEXIM) Bank.
However, indicators showed that Okotete turned the bank’s loss of more than 8 billion naira into a profit of about 4 billion naira in 2021.
She reduced the bank’s non-performing loans from 94% in 2017 to 29% as of December 2021 with thoughtful reforms and a shift in institutional mentality. According to official statistics, the bank’s total asset rose by more than 200% during this time, and fresh funding of more than 100 billion naira was acquired during the same period.