Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Dr Betta Edu, has said she is not in anyway involved in N3 billion corruption scandal rocking the National Social Investment Programme Agency, NSIPA.
The crisis rocking the ministry started with President Bola Tinubu suspending the the National Coordinator and Chief Executive Officer of the agency, Hajia Halima Shehu over allegations of fraud.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, quizzed Shehu, who has since been released from the custody of the anti-graft agency, but reportedly implicated the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, during the interrogation by the anti-graft agency .
However, Edu, in a statement titled “Re-Betta Edu Linked to N3bn NSIPA Fraud Scandal; Baseless Accusations Aimed at Diverting Anti-Graft Agency’s Focus,” and signed by her spokesperson, Rasheed Olanrewaju Zubair, vehemently denied any involvement in the alleged corruption, labelling it as false and unfounded.
The statement read:”The Honourable Minister for Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Dr. Betta Edu, is fully aware of the baseless allegations, suspected to be instigated by certain individuals with ulterior motives, aimed at implicating her in the ongoing investigation into the NSIPA scandal by the anti-graft agency.”
“The allegations against the minister were spurious oand suspected to have been sponsored by some fifth columnists aimed at dragging her name into the ongoing investigations of NSIPA scandal by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
“Ordinarily, there is no substance in the said publication currently in some online media and does not deserve a response, but there is a need to set the record straight for Nigerians and followers of the current development in NSIPA under the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation to be properly informed,” the statement read in part.”
The statement further read:“The conclusion of the well-publicised Verification Exercise led to the expansion of the National Social Register and commencement of payment sequentially and directly from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to various beneficiaries.
“For the records, all the programmes embarked (upon) by the ministry under the current Minister, Dr. Betta Edu, thus far, including Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP), Grants for Vulnerable Groups (GVG) and others secured the approval of Mr President.
“Again, let it be known that there was no time the ministry not (Dr. Betta) withdrew any fund from the NSIPA account, let alone N3 billion without due diligence, and painstaking approval from the appropriate authorities.”
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