Bullying tactics in place of due process
WHEN the suspended Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Betta Edu, was asked to step aside by President Bola Tinubu, on January 8, the allegation against her was as clear as daylight, no equivocations around it. She was accused of granting approval for payment of N585 million of the Ministry’s fund into the private account of a civil servant. She was then ordered to be investigated by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission ( EFCC).
Equally, the minister who preceded Edu in the management of disasters and poverty, Sadiya Umar- Farouk, was questioned by the Commission over a hefty sum of N37.1 billion, allegedly laundered by officials of the ministry during her tenure as minister.
There was also Halima Sheu, who was suspended from office as National Coordinator and Chief Executive Officer of the National Social Investment Programme Agency ( NSIPA), after she was also grilled for suspicious cash transfers to vulnerable groups and individuals during the tenure of President Muhammadu Buhari. It became a huge mess for the Tinubu administration to manage, in just a few months in office.
For Edu, shewas alleged to have approved payment of hundreds of millions of naira into private accounts of civil servants, a reportedcase being that of the accountant in charge of grants for vulnerable Nigerians.
A leaked memo showed that the suspended minister, in December 2023, requested the Accountant General of the Federation, Oluwatoyin Madein, to transfer money from the account of the NSIPA Office to the private account of one Bridget Oniyelu, the accountant of a federal government poverty intervention project known as Grants for Vulnerable Groups, which was under her ministry.
Experts in public finance queried that transfer order, claiming it contravened sections of the country’s Financial Regulation Law of 2009. The Law, among other provisions, states that personal money shall not be paid into a government account and vice versa. The law provides that such movement of public funds can only emanate from a fraudulent intent. Mrs Madein was to later dissociate herself from the memo and the transfer authorisation. Sounded like an afterthought.
This was the background thatled to Edu’s suspension and her investigation by the EFCC. It also turned out in further revelations that some ranking members of this government may have been linked to these disbursements. A trail was established, which roused public outrage that called to question the integrity component of this government and the one that preceded it.
Nigerians got engaged, trying to figure out how much the All Progressives Congress ( APC) and their government have ripped them off in eight years and seven months, in the name of poverty and disaster management. Citizens saw that as a test case for Tinubu to demonstrate his capacity to catch thieves and fight corruption in high places.
The President demurred. Instead, in what was clearly a face- saving and time- buying tactics, the matter was referred to a panel headed by the Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Minister of Finance, Yemi Edun, to conduct a detailed investigation of the entire Social Investment Programmes ( SIPS); and the
President also ordered that the SIPS be frozen for the time being, pending the report of the Panel. Nothing was said of ongoing investigations by the EFCC, but the impression given was that the panel’s assignment was superior to whatever trail the EFCC had established, all of which were to be presented to Nigerians when the panel was done with its assignment.
What was communicated officially was that the government had suspended the minister ( Betta Edu) in line with President Tinubu’s commitment to upholding highest standards of integrity in the management of public funds. Presidential spokesperson, Ajuri Ngelale, was the one who propagated government’s commitment for highest standards of probity, and that heightened citizens’ desire that this scandal is not deodorised and swept under the carpet with calculated delays and rigmarole. Though President Tinubu had pledged to continue from where Buhari ended his sojourn in government, he couldn’t have meant that this government will build on the scandals and lapses of the former, Nigerians hoped.
Nigerians haven’t forgotten that the suspended Minister of Poverty Alleviation was invited to the headquarters of the EFCC, at Abuja, where she spent hours until she was granted bail very late in the night. The terms and conditions of the bail were kept secret by the Commission but citizens were assured that the investigations were to continue. All that was in early January.
Today, despite the famine in the land and the deliberate efforts to afflict the collective memory with amnesia, Nigerians are still waiting for the details. They are waiting for the report of the forensic examination of the activities of the ministry in the last eight years. That was the promise. Nigerians are eager to know the revelations from the EFCC investigations.
“Corruption started fighting back last week when a notable media house was harassed for reporting an update on this scandal. Other media houses had to scurry to pull down same story that was originally traced to the EFCC. Even the Commission’s website is no longer forthcoming with the update. This is what you get when an agency and government fight corruption selectively.
There is no closure on it yet and if this government wants to be trusted on its anti- corruption claim, it should stop playing politics. Allow the EFCC conduct transparent investigations and bring Nigerians up to date with the findings, just the way government is doing with that of former Central Bank Governor, Godwin Emefiele.
Smart citizens had feared this case could enter voicemail; that happens when weighty matters are cleverly swept under the carpet and allowed to fossilise. The people know that the allegations are far too heavy for one suspect to be scapegoated on behalf of a rent- picking APC political class. Those who were off- takers from the ministry’s poverty purse for the eight years should be probed.
Mind you, the EFCC was not set up to recover stolen funds in the coven, only to announce figures Nigerians cannot verify and relate with. Let the Commission stop flying a kite on this matter, in a dubious bid to lull Nigerians to sleep. Go to court to announce the sums recovered as well as the 50 bank accounts that you claim were linked to the Poverty Alleviation scam. Let owners of the accounts come to court and present their testimonies. If that is not done, corruption is going to fight back.
Corruption started fighting back last week when a notable media house was harassed for reporting an update on this scandal. Other media houses had to scurry to pull down same story that was originally traced to the EFCC. Even the Commission’s website is no longer forthcoming with the update. This is what you get when an agency and government fight corruption selectively.
In a related matter, the handling of the LagosCalabar Coastal Highway by the Federal Ministry of Works ( FMW), gained notoriety in the media last week, over allegations of lack of transparency in the contract award.
The audacity of the project and speed of commencement recommend it for high commendation, against the background of historical tardiness and crippling bureaucracy in government business. It is one ambitious project no government should venture into if it has not secured a dependable source of funding, especially in these lean times. It is also not the type of project to abandon half- way.
Thus, this project required prudent consideration of overall advantages and liabilities. For instance, are there less costly alternatives to the Coastal Highway that require upgrading? Can this project wait for better economic times; or are there funding alternatives that can take the burden off government?
A careful deliberation on these posers at the Federal Executive Council ( FEC), taking note of extant procurement laws and procedure for contract awards would have taken care of the transparency and accountability requirements. Nigerians wouldn’t need to ask questions if due processes were followed. Thus, the speed of commencement of work on the Highway as well as the contracting arrangement are suspect.
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has raised questions regarding the Project. Politics apart, the Turaki Adamawa is eminently knowledgeable on procurement and contracting matters, having supervised the privatisation component of the economy while he was in office between 19992007.
In the press release signed by his Media Adviser, Paul Ibe, the former vice president specifically queried the award of the road contract to Gilbert Chagoury’s Hi- tech Construction Company Limited ( Hi- tech), which owner is said to be a friend and business partner to President Tinubu, suggesting a possibility of conflict of interest.
The former VP also claimed the contract did not go through any advertised competitive bid process, which is the due standard for all Federal Government contracts as provided in the Public Procurement Act 2007. Atiku asserted that the 700- kilometre project is shady and dubious, claiming it had been on the drawing board since the Goodluck Jonathan years in 2014, when the road to link 10 states with 22 railway stations was announced with China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation ( CCECC) in mind, at a cost of $ 11.97 billion. The project never flied.
Also, the former VP wondered whether the award is a contract or a Public Private Partnership ( PPP), in which case the rules are well laid down in the law books and in judiciary interpretations. He also challenged the total cost, going by the N1.06 trillion approval sought by the Minister, David Umahi, as payment to the contractor for the first phase of 47.47 km located in Lagos.
The Minister has attempted what are at best belated media embellishments, all of which wouldn’t be needed if due processes were adhered to ab initio. Public procurement at the federal level is markedly different from what obtains in states, where citizens are programmed by powerful governors not to ask questions. At the federal, some offenders have gone to jail for flouting the procurement law. Let’s not forget.
This government should remember that the groundwork to tackle corruption is already well established. What remains is for the present political class to purge itself of bullying tactics and discriminatory application of the laws. Due Process is non- negotiable!