SADIYA FAROUK & BETTA EDU: Humanitarian House of Fraud and Square Pegs in Round Holes

HUMANITARIAN HOUSE OF FRAUD

AND SQUARE PEGS IN ROUND HOLES

When government set up a National Social Investment Programme Agency (NSIPA) under the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development Nigerians heaved a sigh of relief, believing the government had finally felt their pains and succor was on the way.

The government and the MDAs involved made a great show of it. Jingles went rife, media paparazzi was aplenty while press statements and speeches were given.

All kinds of forms and links filled the media. Hopes were high.

Then came GVG, a grant for the vulnerable group of Nigerians.

Different coinages surfaced;

Most Vulnerable

Poorest of the poor

The disadvantaged  

Small scale businesses

But Alas Nigerians waited endlessly and the grants didn’t come.

Speculations and conjectures became the order of the day. This led to despair.

People were almost writing it all off when things started happening.

The ministry in charge was suddenly in the news.

Former Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Umar Farouq, was invited by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to appear for questioning in furtherance of an ongoing probe into an alleged N37.1bn fraud during her tenure in office.

According to the EFCC, the alleged fraud was perpetrated through a contractor, James Okwete.

Umar Farouq was scheduled to appear at 10 am at the anti-graft agency’s Abuja headquarters but failed to show up and kept interrogators waiting for over eight hours without an official communication as to why she could not honour the invitation.

Meanwhile, the suspended National Coordinator of the National Social Investment Programme Agency (NSIPA), Halima Shehu, has reported to the commission.

Shehu was formerly in charge of the Conditional Cash Transfer Programme during Umar-Farouk’s tenure, was also arrested over the ongoing fraud probe.

Reports say she is providing the necessary information to the agency’s interrogators.

Farouq wrote to the EFCC to apologize for failing to appear before the commission to answer questions on the alleged laundering of N37.1 billion during her tenure saying she was currently indisposed.

Before Nigerians could digest the news, her successor too got the front pages.

Few days after the former Minister of Humanitarian Affairs Sadiyat Umar Farouk was invited by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission EFCC over financial misappropriation, the current Minister Betta Edu is engulfed in battle to clear her name in a fresh scandal that has hit the ministry.

This follows a leaked memo titled ‘Mandate For Payment’ which Edu sent to the office of the Accountant General of the Federation seeking the transfer of the sum of N585, 189, 500 (Five Hundred and Eighty Five Million, One Hundred and Eighty Nine Thousand, Five Hundred Naira) for “payments for programmes and activities of the Renewed Hope Grant for Vulnerable Groups”.

The Renewed Hope Grant for Vulnerable Groups is one of the social intervention schemes of the Federal Government, which the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation is implementing.

The controversy over the payment of Federal Government’s N585.198 million into a private account by the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Dr. Betta Edu, however took a new twist as the Accountant General of the Federation, AGF, Mrs. Olwatoyin Madein, said her office didn’t grant the request for the payment to be made.

The minister had claimed that the decision to lodge the money into a private account had the blessing of the AGF.

Edu in a statement by her Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Rasheed Zubair, said the payment of the grant to the account of one Oniyelu Bridget was because the fellow currently serves as the Project Accountant of Grants for Vulnerable Groups.

He said the minister made the request to Madein to send public funds to the private account and was granted permission.

Zubair said “Oniyelu Bridget is the Project Accountant for GVG from the Department of Finance, and it is legal in civil service for a staff, the project accountant, to be paid and use the same funds legally and retire the same with all receipts and evidence after the project or programme is completed.”

Already the office of the Accountant General of the Federation has faulted the request, clarifying that such payments are ordinarily made to the vulnerable beneficiaries of the programme, clarifying that it does not process bulk government payments to an individual’s private account.

Chapter Seven, Section 713 of Nigeria’s Financial Regulations 2009 which emphasises separating public and personal money in government transactions states that “Personal money shall in no circumstances be paid into a government bank account, nor shall any public money be paid into a private account. (Minister Edu clearly violated this section).

The section, in also says, “Any officer who pays public money into a private account is deemed to have done so with fraudulent intention.” It is very clear that the intent of the law here is to prevent fraud in government business.

Mrs Madein said that such payment should be sent to the beneficiaries through their verified bank accounts.

This implies that Minister Edu’s humanitarian affairs ministry went ahead to pay the N585.2 million into Ms Oniyelu’s private account, against Mrs Madein’s advice, and in violation of Nigeria’s law.

Minister Edu’s memo adds another layer of scandal to the ongoing EFCC investigation of the suspended National Coordinator of the National Social Investment Programme Agency (NSIPA), Halima Shehu over alleged N37.1 billion fraud in the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs.

The allegations against these women raise a lot of questions. One easily remembers former Ministers Stella Oduah and Alison Madueke.

It is not about their femminity. Fraud has no gender.  

It is not about Education. They got some of the best education available.

Age is not the issue. These ones are "NOT TOO YOUNG TO RULE."

Sadiya is from the north while Betta is from the South. So it is not about where they come from.

It is about the processes that led to their appointments into such exalted positions.

Years back, the characters and personalities of nominees for public office were deliberately scrutinized by various security and service agencies.

In 2020, Edu was accused of posting fake photos of ventilators. The Cross River state chapter of the Nigerian Medical Association passed a vote of no confidence on Edu over accusations of professional misconduct in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Edu claims the vote of no confidence was political. In 2022, during her campaign to become National Women Leader of the APC, Edu was accused of procedural misconduct.

The National Assembly used to rigorously screen the nominees before confirming them.

The agencies and the National Assembly no more live up to expectation of the nation.

They are influenced by Political brinkmanship, bribery and kowtowing to the influence of the President.

As a result, persons normally unfit to hold local government positions are foisted to positions meant for people of high integrity and intellect.

Sadiya Umar Farouq and Betta Chimaobim Edu are not the only square pegs in round holes in government.

The president ordering the suspension of Mrs Edu, just like Halima Sheu, does not erase the malfeasance of placing government Ministries, Departments and Agencies in the wrong hands, especially important ones such as ministries of Petroleum, Aviation and Humanitarian matters.

When you appoint monkeys to look over a peanut store, the outcome is obvious.