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• Seeks REMITA payment trail, probe of social intervention scheme
• Accuses FG of turning poverty relief into ‘racket’
From Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has demanded the immediate publication of the identities of 3.29 million households reportedly paid N33.75 billion under the Federal Government’s social intervention programme, following questions raised by the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation over verification of the payments.
The opposition party also demanded the REMITA payment trail and names of officials who allegedly obstructed the audit, calling for a comprehensive investigation into the management of the intervention programme.
ADC National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, made the demands in a statement, yesterday, following reports that although electronic transfers totalling N33.751 billion were made to 3,295,207 households, supporting payment vouchers did not contain full details of the beneficiaries.
The party said the audit queries reinforced its concerns about transparency in the administration of funds intended to cushion the economic hardship faced by vulnerable Nigerians.
“Let us call this what it is. Not mismanagement. Not an oversight. It is an organised racket, which this government has run under the guise of a social intervention programme. They are stealing from the poor and telling them to continue to endure hardship,” ADC alleged.
The party recalled previous controversies surrounding the Federal Government’s social intervention programmes, including the N585 million allegedly paid into a private account in the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and another controversy involving N44 billion at the National Social Investment Programme Agency.
It argued that the latest audit questions should compel the government to establish beyond doubt who received the N33.75 billion and how the payments were processed.
“This latest report of an unaccounted N33.75 billion intervention fund, buried inside a larger N78 billion fund, and the historical pattern of corruption that has trailed this kind of programme would suggest that this government has found a way to steal from the poor by turning the social intervention programme into a criminal enterprise,” the ADC alleged.
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The party also questioned the Federal Government’s announcement of a new $1 billion “Renewed Hope Social Protection Programme,” arguing that outstanding accountability concerns surrounding earlier interventions should first be addressed.
“Barely weeks before this audit blew up in their faces, they wheeled out a new $1 billion so-called ‘Renewed Hope Social Protection Programme’ with the usual State House fanfare.
“Given the familiar history, we are in no doubt that even in the unlikely event that this latest intervention is ever implemented, it would end up like the others before it: another racket,” it said.
ADC demanded a full investigation of the social intervention programme and publication of records that would allow Nigerians to independently establish where the money went.
It specifically called for “the immediate publication of the full beneficiary register, the REMITA payment trail, and the names of every official who obstructed the Auditor-General.”
The opposition party linked the importance of social intervention programmes to the economic hardship confronting Nigerians, blaming the administration’s removal of petrol subsidy and currency reforms for worsening the cost-of-living crisis.
It argued that government had an even greater responsibility to ensure that money appropriated to assist vulnerable citizens reached the intended beneficiaries.
“This is a government that manufactured hardship with one hand and pocketed the relief with the other. Fuel prices up. Transport costs up. Food prices up. And the one programme meant to soften the blow turns out to be a black hole. Enough is enough,” the party said.
