Following the alleged unconscionable sleaze in the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation running into billions of naira, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has suspended for six weeks the four programmes administered by the National Social Investment Programme Agency (NSIPA). They included N-Power, the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT), Government Enterprise and Empowerment and the Home Grown School Feeding. Earlier, the National Coordinator and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of NSIPA, Hajiya Halima Shehu, had been suspended by the president over alleged financial malfeasance.
Also, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Dr Betta Edu, had been suspended over an alleged N585 million scandal. She is already being investigated by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) alongside other people associated with the perceived sleaze. Similarly, former minister of the embattled ministry, Sadiya Umar-Farouk, is under investigation over alleged sleaze, involving billions of naira.
The President has noted with great concern the operational lapses and improprieties over the disbursement of funds to the beneficiaries of the social intervention programmes. That can explain why the president set up a special presidential panel to audit the operations of the agency and come up with far-reaching recommendations on the effective implementation of the programmes.
The panel is headed by the Minister of Finance and the Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edu. Other members included, the Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Minister of Information and National Orientation, Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, and the Minister of State for Youth.
We decry the unconscionable sleaze in the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation. The fact that about N44 billion was allegedly laundered in NSIPA underscores the rising level of corruption in ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs). We don’t want to believe that the malfeasance is limited to the affected ministry and its agency. What has been uncovered may well be a tip of the iceberg. There may be more sleaze in other ministries and agencies of the government yet to be unearthed.
There is no point gloating over the exposed corruption in the ministry or use it to engage in media trial of those currently under investigation. The EFCC and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) must look the way of other MDAs yet to be investigated and uncover the reported monumental corruption in some of them. The ICPC must work in concert with EFCC to rein in corrupt government officials and political appointees. That is perhaps the only way they can demonstrate that the Bola Tinubu administration is serious in fighting corruption and defeating it. All those fingered in the money-laundering saga must be fished out and prosecuted. Without adequately punishing those caught in corruption, the government is indirectly encouraging others to do the same.
Therefore, the government should now wield the big stick against those dipping their dirty hands in the common till. It should not be business as usual. Corrupt practices must never be the norm in our national life. It is sad that officials appointed by the new government are already deep into corruption for an administration that is yet to mark its first year in office. The immediate past administration of Muhammadu Buhari didn’t do much to stem corruption, despite his promise to do so. Let the Tinubu administration show a marked departure from the Buhari era and tackle corruption with tenacity of purpose.
All poverty alleviation funds must be used for lifting millions of Nigerians out of poverty. The laundering of such funds defeats the aims of the poverty alleviation programmes. The money meant for poverty alleviation should not be found in private accounts or companies of those serving the Tinubu government. It is incestuous and unacceptable for companies associated with some people in this government to be engaged in shady deals with ministries and agencies of the same government.
This is the dilemma the Wale Edu-led panel will face. How it manages it will show whether the Tinubu administration is ready to confront the nation’s endemic corruption or not. There should be no scared cows in fighting corruption. Moving forward, the NSIPA programmes must be reformed to reflect the ethnic diversity of the country. We say this because poverty is a national problem. It is never restricted to one zone or region.