PRESIDENCY: WE WON’T SPARE ANYONE FOUND CULPABLE IN HUMANITARIAN MINISTRY SCANDAL
Shedding more light on the on-going probe, Ngelale said, “The President has given full instruction to the EFCC chairman to not only conduct a thorough investigation.
“The way the president would direct such an investigation is to say that nobody, no name, should be left out if they are found wanting in the situation. No sacred cows at all.
“Anywhere this investigation takes the EFCC and other investigating authorities. That is where the investigation must go and the president will take action accordingly.”
The presidential spokesperson added that the president had “since made it clear to all members of his administration, that he would not tolerate any form of indiscipline, corruption, dereliction of duty or any other form of incompetence.
"President Tinubu is going to let time go by. If he fully understands that somebody is not up to the task, he will fix the problem and fix it as quickly as possible,” he added.
While suspending the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation on January 7, President Tinubu had directed the Chairman of EFCC to “conduct a thorough investigation into all aspects of the financial transactions involving the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, as well as one or more agencies thereunder.”
He also tasked the ministerial panel headed by the Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Minister of Finance, Mr Wale Edun, to, among other functions, “conduct a comprehensive diagnostic on the financial architecture and framework of the social investment programmes to conclusively reform of the NSIPA, and relevant institutions and programmes in a determined bid to eliminate all institutional frailties for the exclusive benefit of disadvantaged households and win back lost public confidence in the initiative.”
A presidency source re-echoed the importance of the investigation saying, "this much deeper look into all aspects of the operations of the programme."
Edu became the focal point of Nigerians’ ire after a leaked memo on December 20 revealed that she allegedly directed the Accountant-General of the Federation, Oluwatoyin Madein, to transfer N585 million to a private account owned by one Oniyelu Bridget, who the ministry claimed currently serves as the Project Accountant, Grants for Vulnerable Groups.
In a statement signed on January 6, 2024 by the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Muhammad Idris, the federal government affirmed that it is “determined to unravel the truth as it relates to this matter,” promising that, “appropriate action will be taken to ensure that any breaches and infractions were identified and decisively punished.”
On January 12, days after suspending Edu, the president also suspended all Social Investment Programmes administered by the National Social Investment Programme Agency, including the school-feeding programme, for six weeks.
A day later, he approved