Top shots’ greed compounds poverty alleviation as humanitarian ministry’s scandals deepen

Although social investment schemes of the Federal Government were conceived to assist the poor, alleged scandals involving top officials of the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation are making a mess of the laudable programmes, OKECHUKWU NNODIM writes

Activities at the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation are currently being probed by anti-corruption agencies following the massive alleged looting of public funds by senior officials of the ministry and its agencies.

A major organisation under the Humanitarian Ministry is the National Social Investment Programme Agency, which receives about 80 per cent of the allocation that goes to the ministry due to the tasks assigned to NSIPA.

NSIPA manages the N-Power Programme, Conditional Cash Transfer Programme, Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme, and Home Grown School Feeding Programme.

Hundreds of billions of naira are allocated annually to NSIPA for the smooth running of these programmes which are meant to lift millions of Nigerians out of poverty.

But the reverse seems to be the case, as recent revelations showed that the two ministers, who had managed the ministry, as well as the head of NSIPA, might have looted a lot of the funds meant for the Nigerian masses.

Based on this, experts and economists commended President Bola Tinubu for suspending the programmes, as they urged him to implement a complete overhaul of the schemes, while thoroughly probing the ministry.

“From the news coming out of that ministry, it shows that there is monumental looting happening there. The social programmes must be stopped and overhauled to stop this massive looting,” a former President of the Association of National Accountants of Nigeria, Dr Sam Nzekwe, stated.

Ministers, NSIPA probed

On January 3, 2024, The PUNCH reported that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission arrested and detained the National Coordinator and Chief Executive Officer, of NSIPA, Halima Shehu, over an ongoing probe into the N37,170,855,753.44 allegedly laundered in the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management, and Social Development, under former Minister, Sadiya Umar-Farouk.

The report revealed that Shehu was indicted in connection with the alleged 37.1bn fraud as the former National Coordinator of the Conditional Cash Transfer Programme under the ministry.

“Halima Shehu is currently in our (EFCC) custody in connection with the ongoing N37.1bn fraud that took place under the former humanitarian minister, Sadiya Umar-Farouk.

“Halima was the National Coordinator in charge of the Conditional Cash Transfer Programme under the ministry during Buhari's tenure, and she's been queried over some of the money that left the ministry's coffers through her,” the report quoted EFCC sources at the time.

Shehu was suspended from office by President Bola Tinubu on January 2, 2024, as it was reported that the EFCC had also invited the former Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management, and Social Development, Umar-Farouk, to appear before investigators over the ongoing probe into the N37.1bn allegedly laundered during her tenure in office, through a contractor, James Okwete.

The fund was allegedly suspiciously moved from NSIPA's accounts into private and corporate accounts linked to persons serving as fronts.

On January 8, 2024, President Tinubu suspended his Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management, Betta Edu, following widespread anger over an alleged N585m scandal in her ministry.

The PUNCH reported on January 10, 2024, that the EFCC had to seize the passports of Edu and her predecessor, Umar-Farouq, over the ongoing investigations into scandals in the ministry.

The report stated that as the EFCC interrogated the suspended minister over the N44bn fraud uncovered in the ministry, managing directors of three commercial banks were also invited for questioning.

The scandal involving Edu burst open after a leaked memo revealed that the suspended minister directed the Accountant-General of the Federation, Oluwatoyin Madein, to transfer N585m to a private account owned by one Oniyelu Bridget, who the ministry claimed currently serves as the Project Accountant, Grants for Vulnerable Groups.

The 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 the minister, Rasheed Olarewaju, had said in a statement that it was legal within the civil service for such payments to be made into private accounts of staff members, especially project accountants.

In deference to public pressure, the President suspended Edu and directed her to hand over to the permanent secretary in the ministry.

However, analysts say the suspension of the suspended minister is not enough, as they call for the scrapping of the social investment programmes completely.

“The suspension of the minister and the programmes of NSIPA are in order, but not enough. All programmes under NSIPA have had little or no benefit on Nigerians and should be scrapped completely,” the President, Coalition of South-South Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture, Billy Gillis-Harry, stated.

Recall that former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, while giving his opinion on the unfolding scandals, accused the All Progressives Congress of using the humanitarian ministry as a cash cow for successive governments.

Atiku had also stated that the suspension of the minister, Edu, was commendable, but not enough.

In a recent statement by his Special Assistant, Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, the former vice president said it was unfortunate that a programme that was designed to lift over 100 million Nigerians out of extreme poverty had allegedly become a cash cow for successive APC governments.

Nzekwe corroborated this, as he alleged that managers of the social investment scheme were laundering funds.

The former ANAN president said, “Right from the beginning, during the time of former President Muhammadu Buhari, I called that ministry a ministry for laundering money.

“How can you ask someone to go about sharing cash – N5,000, N20,000, N50,000 as the case may be, to hundreds of thousands of people? On what basis or data was it done?

“Is it in Nigeria where there is no adequate database? Who are the people they were giving these monies to? So I saw it as a means of embezzlement. I raised this concern right from the beginning.

Create jobs

Nzekwe suggested that the government should try to create jobs, instead of giving billions of naira to a few individuals to give to the masses, when such funds would not get to the desired beneficiaries.

“I suggested that instead of this method of sharing money, why not develop something that will create employment for the people? This is because you cannot solve tangible problems by sharing money that way. If you give somebody N50,000 today, and say they are going to use it for about six months, after the six months what happens?

“Nigeria is not ripe for that. If we are talking of developed countries where they have data for every strata of the economy, then that policy might work because they will be able to know the poor and vulnerable people in their society.

“But in Nigeria, who are the multi-dimensional poor people? How do you get them? Where are they? So I saw that it was a means of settling the boys and a wrong move completely. Rather the government should think of what would create employment for the people,” Nzekwe stated.

He advised the government to engage people, “for instance, from Lagos to Ibadan, we could need people to be clearing the roads, cutting the grasses on both sides, and then at the end of the month you pay them salaries.

“If you look at our major roads, you will see bushes on the right and left sides of the roads, where criminals hide to attack motorists. But if they are paying people to clear those grasses, it would help in terms of security, and job creation and would contribute to the economy.

“But in a situation where somebody is sitting down and you say you are giving him or her money, how can that be explained? So it is commendable that the President suspended the programmes. In my view, he should suspend it completely and find another way of helping the poor masses.”

Tinubu suspended all administered social investment programmes by the National Social Investment Programme Agency on January 12, 2024.

Announcing the suspension in a statement, the Director of Information, Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Segun Imohiosen, said the President's decision was because of the “ongoing investigation of alleged malfeasance in the management of the agency and its programmes.”

Over N2tn allocation

Data from the budget office showed that the total budgetary allocation to the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation from 2020 to 2024, five years, was about N2.38tn.

Buhari created the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development on August 21, 2019.

After Tinubu took over in May 2023, the name was changed to the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation.

Figures from the budget office showed that in 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024, the total allocations to the ministry and agencies under it were N453.3bn, N456.1bn, N507.9bn, N426bn and N532.5bn respectively.

Reacting to this, Gillis-Harry said the trillions invested by the Federal Government in the ministry had not yielded any meaningful impact on Nigerians.

He said, “Policies that are generated by the government for the betterment of Nigerians should be as much as possible transparent, and traceable. The results should be seen in the everyday lives of Nigerians. We came with all these fine policies and at the end of the day, it has become an avenue to loot the country.

“We had experienced during the COVID-19 lockdown that several billions of naira were said to have been spent by the same humanitarian ministry to feed students in schools, while there were no schooling activities at that time. Also, so much money was allegedly sent to the poor.

“Now, who were the poor and what statistics did they use? So I will say those policies were good but were poorly managed. The policies were avenues to loot money and make Nigerians suffer worse than they used to. “

He continued, “So stop it, review and come up with policies and actions that can be transparent, result-oriented and efficient for Nigerians. It is important that if you are investing so much money, people should see it. The President is putting his eyes where he is supposed to look.

“Save Nigeria's money and make sure the money is invested wisely and efficiently for the good of Nigerians and not to be looted by a very minute few at the detriment of the larger masses.”

In December 2023, the World Bank stated that the number of poor Nigerians increased by 24 million between 2018 and 2023.

In its Nigeria development update, titled, ‘Turning the Corner: From Reforms & Renewed Hope, to Results,' the bank stated that poverty rate in Nigeria increased to 46 per cent in 2023, representing 104 million poor Nigerians.

It said Nigeria's poverty rate rose from 40 per cent in 2018 to 46 per cent in 2023, as the number of poor people increased from 79 million to 104 million.

The bank also pointed out that more people had fallen below the poverty line due to sluggish growth and rising inflation.