By Maria Famakinwa

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Since the suspension of the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation or Betta Edu,  by President Bola Tinubu early this year for financial impropriety, it has continued to generate reactions across the country, more so as new revelations unfold. It would be recalled that Dr. Edu was alleged to have approved the payment of hundreds of millions of naira (N585 million), belonging to government, into the private bank account of a civil servant, Bridget Oniyelu, who is the accountant in charge of Grants for the Vulnerable Nigerians, an agency under the ministry.

The act is said to have contravened various sections of Nigeria’s Financial Regulations 2009 that are meant to prevent fraud in government business.There were also other anomalous expenditures credited to the suspended minister on the social media, like the money approved to take a flight to Kogi state where there is no airport. Initially, people thought it was a mere speculation, but it is also noteworthy that the money could not be paid into the approved personal account, as the Accountant-General of the Federation  advised the Minister against the transactions.

The suspended minister had claimed that the N585m payment was meant for vulnerable groups in Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Ogun, and Lagos States, describing the allegations against her as baseless.

The Media Assistant to Betta Edu, Rasheed Olarenwaju, in a statement, said that it was legal within the civil service for such payments to be made into private accounts of staff  especially project accountants.

He said: “Oniyelu Bridget is the Project Accountant for the GVG (Grant for Vulnerable Groups) from the Department of Finance, and it is legal in civil service for a staffer, 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,” he said.

Speaking on the suspension, Director of Information at the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Segun Imohiosen, said that the suspension is part of the ongoing investigation of alleged malfeasance in the management of the agency and its programmes. “President Bola Tinubu has also raised significant concerns regarding operational lapses and improprieties surrounding payments to the Programs’ beneficiaries. He has therefore constituted a ministerial panel to conduct a thorough review of the Agency’s operations with a view to recommending necessary reforms of the NSIPA.

“During the period of this suspension, all NSIPA-related activities, including but not limited to all distributions, events, payments, collaborations and registrations are now frozen. The President wishes to assure the stakeholders and all Nigerians that his administration remains committed to a swift and unbiased process that will ensure that, going forward social intervention programmes will work exactly as intended, to the benefit of the most vulnerable Nigerians.”

However, the findings of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) slammed suspended Humanitarian Minister, Edu, her predecessor, Sadiya Umar-Farouq, and the Coordinator of the National Social Insurance Programmes Agency, Halima Shehu, as the commission revealed that a total of N32.7bn and $445,000 has been recovered so far from the ministry.

The commission made the development known recently while dispelling commentaries, opinions, assumptions, and insinuations concerning the progress of its mobile investigations into the alleged financial misappropriation in the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development. The statement signed by the spokesperson for the EFCC, Dele Oyewale, said the recoveries were made after past and suspended officials of the Humanitarian Ministry were invited by the Commission.

According to Oyewale, “The EFCC has noticed the rising tide of commentaries, opinions, assumptions and insinuations concerning its progressive investigations into the alleged financial misappropriation in the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management, and Social Development. At the outset of investigations, past and suspended officials of the Humanitarian Ministry were invited by the Commission and investigations into the alleged fraud involving them have yielded the recovery of N32.7bn and $445,000 so far.

Reacting to the issue, a political scientist, Mr Tosin Adedayo, explained that a ministerial office is not a source of personal wealth, power or prestige,  rather it’s a call to service, an opportunity to use your talent to advance your nation’s progress and the wellbeing of its people. “Therefore, it’s an unpardonable betrayal for any minister or office holder to abuse his or her office and put private gain above public good. Sadly, in Nigeria, private gain triumphs over public good. The Betta Edu scandal, the latest of such malfeasance by ministers and other public officers, shows, once again, that most of those tasked with governing Nigeria lack the ethos of public service and a commitment to the common good.

“First, ministers must have the right skills, competence and experience; second, ministers must have the right values, a moral compass, underpinned by a strong public-service ethos; and third, there must be robust institutions, with the rules, norms and structures, to constrain the behaviour of officeholders. Unfortunately, none of these critical elements is evident in the governance of Nigeria. Sadly, the global best practices do not exist, or are not enforced, in Nigeria.

“For instance, in the Betta Edu scandal, the minister transferred N585 million of public funds into a private account. She did so despite the Accountant-General of the Federation’s objection, and despite the Financial Regulations, which prohibit payment of public money into a private account. But the Permanent Secretary, Abel Enitan, also failed woefully in his role as the ministry’s accounting officer. An accounting officer who couldn’t take personal responsibility for ensuring regularity and propriety in the use of his ministry’s funds is not fit to lead the ministry. The truth is: there are incentives for official corruption in Nigeria. Unless they are systematically tackled, ministers and other officeholders will always abuse public office for personal gain. Nigeria has a choice.”

A public servant, Mr Babawale who condemned the act of some Civil Society Organizations for conducting solidarity match in support of the suspended Edu, warned that such development might affect justice. While commending President Tinubu for standing against corruption appealed to him to investigate other ministries. “I want to commend President Tinubu for achieving this feat. It is a clear message to Nigerians that the present administration in the country has zero tolerance for any act of corruption. I will also appeal to the President to spread his  tentacle to other ministries so as to rid our country of fraud. 

“My understanding of how things work in the federal ministries is that the  Ministers have no business with payments, procurement, and human resources issues in the ministries they man. The Permanent Secretary is the Chief Accounting Officer of each Ministry, who seeks the Minister’s approval when incurring expenditures. The PS is the single point of contact between the Minister and the bureaucracy. At the same time, the Minister is the point of contact with the superior and external organs of government and the public. I want to commend the EFCC for doing a thorough job, which is a clear warning to others,” he said.