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15 Months After, EFCC yet t Release Edu, Sadiya Alleged Fraud Reports
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is yet to release the reports of its investigations into the alleged fraud cases involving former Ministers of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Umar-Farouk and Betta Edu,
POLITICS DIGEST reports that investigations, which were launched 15 months, also involved a former coordinator of the National Social Investment Programme Agency (NSIPA), Halima Shehu and a contractor, James Okwete.
This is just as the EFCC said that the investigations were still ongoing.
Over N30 billion was said to have been recovered by the EFCC and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) from 50 bank accounts linked to the ministry when Edu and Sadiya held sway there.
Recall that trouble began for Edu, Sadiya and other top civil servants in the ministry after a memo surfaced on the social media wherein Edu allegedly asked the then Accountant-General of the Federation, Oluwatoyin Madein, to transfer N585 million into a private account owned by one Oniyelu Bridget.
The ministry had claimed that Bridget was serving as Project Accountant, Grants for Vulnerable Groups.
Later, documents where Edu allegedly gave some controversial approvals, including that of air fares to Kogi, a state without an airport, went viral.
A week before Edu’s suspension, Halima Shehu had been suspended as the Chief Executive Officer of the National Social Investment Programmes Agency (NSIPA) over alleged financial malfeasance when Edu alleged that billions of naira went missing under Shehu’s watch.
Shehu was subsequently arrested and questioned by the EFCC in connection with the alleged movement of N44 billion from the NSIPA’ account to some private and corporate accounts within the last four days in December 2023.
The EFCC also interrogated Sadiya Umar-Farouq over allegations of corruption in the handling of N37.1 billion social intervention funds during her tenure.
Tinubu constituted a panel led the Minister of Finance, Wale Edun, to “among other functions, conduct a comprehensive diagnostic on the financial architecture and framework of the social investment programmes with a view to conclusively reforming the relevant institutions and programmes”
The social investment programmes were domiciled in the ministry then and were implemented by the NSIPA.
The programmes included the N-Power Programme, the Conditional Cash Transfer Programme, the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme and Home Grown School Feeding Programme.
