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The unconscionable malfeasance in the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation has once again proved that the beautiful ones are not yet born, with due apologies to Ayi Kwei Armah, the Ghanaian author who wrote ‘The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born.’ Since its creation by the Muhammadu Buhari regime, the Humanitarian ministry has proved to be (un)humanitarian and uncaring despite being run by women of note. The Humanitarian ministry has become a disaster ministry, considering the monumental corruption in the young ministry reserved for women.
The ministry, as the name suggests, was established to reduce poverty, but it is doing the opposite. It is daily impoverishing Nigerians and stupendously enriching those in charge of the ministry and their cronies. First, there was a diversion of N37 billion meant to address poverty by former occupants of the ministry. Second, the suspended national coordinator of the National Social Investment Programme Agency (NSIPA), Halima Shehu, is being grilled for alleged diversion of funds meant for NSIPA to suspicious accounts around December 2023. Third, there was another diversion of N585 million of government money meant to address poverty but paid into a private account in contravention of existing laws on such transactions in the Humanitarian ministry under Dr. Betta Edu.
Both the past and immediate ministers of the embattled ministry, Sadiya Umar-Farouk and Dr. Betta Edu, the suspended NSIPA boss, Halima Shehu, are facing monumental charges of alleged corruption and they are being grilled by officials of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and ICPC to unravel what happened and all those involved in the financial sleaze. There is indeed no place to hide as the Tinubu administration bares its fangs on corruption. The administration has recently proved that it is poised to fight corruption standstill with the few examples so far.
It is public knowledge that corruption used to wear the face of men but as events in the humanitarian Affairs ministry and NSIPA have demonstrated, corruption now wears the face of women, beautiful women. Our women appear to have overtaken the men in this game. They are no longer the weaker sex or the muted and marginalized gender. They have literally put their hands in the common till and have taken enough money to last for a lifetime. They have shown that they are fighting poverty indeed.
Nigerians are watching how the entire drama will play out. And it remains to be seen how far the President can go in cleaning the Augean stable. It is apparent that a new Sheriff is indeed in town and the EFCC is firing on all cylinders. The fear of EFCC is now the beginning of wisdom. Politicians and political appointees should beware. They must now not tread where angels fear to tread. I say this because the EFCC chaps are on the prowl and sniffing everywhere to detect graft.
It is so sad that the best of our women are falling into the fraud temptation. Those seen as our best amazons are fast embracing corruption, the easiest route to stupendous wealth. Why the perfidy? They ought to have resisted the devil and say no to corruption. When we had thought that the women would help us to clean the Augean stable because the men, the men of timber and caterpillar have failed us, the women, the beautiful damsels, have proved no better.
They have shown that even gold can rust. How are the mighty fallen? Tell it not in Kano, Sokoto or Calabar. We are grieving today because those we thought to be our best have proved to be the worst. Ayi Kwei Armah must have Nigeria in mind when he wrote ‘The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born.’ The beautiful ones are still in the womb. Perhaps the beautiful ones will be born in a future and transformed Nigeria, not the present one wobbling from one malaise to another since inception like Abiku or Ogbanje child.
No beautiful one should be born in this present Nigeria with its many contradictions. No, not in this one. The present Nigeria is rotten through and through. It is stinking to high heavens. Not even the scents of Arabia will clean us from its stench. All the scents of Arabia will not make it smell fine. Not even the waters of Rivers Niger and Benue will wash it clean from its old and new iniquities. This is perhaps the first litmus test of the renewed hope agenda of the Tinubu administration. It is not yet certain how far the Tinubu administration can go in the fight against graft. Corruption is still a clear and present danger. Apart from insecurity, corruption is still our major problem.
Official corruption is alive and kicking. It walks on all fours in all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), especially at the federal level. It occurs at the subnational level as well. But more at the centre, where the money is plenty. Its menacing presence is real. Many privileged Nigerians are involved in the perfidy. The only law against it is ‘don’t be caught.’ The new EFCC boss, Ola Olukoyede, has a lot of work to do to crush corruption. I say so because corruption will always fight back ferociously.
Like the white man in Chinua Achebe’s political/colonial novels, corruption fights back with many weapons. It fights with money, power and influence. It also fights with denial, media, deceit, blackmail and its other lethal arsenals. Those caught in the web of corruption play the victim, the weak and even the oppressed. They can feign ill-health. Let me also state that the face of corruption is not woman. The Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation is just one out of many others, which may be bastions of corruption and unconscionable sleaze.
Let the EFCC not limit its fight against graft on just one ministry. The fight against corruption must be holistic to make more sense and impact. The EFCC should beam its searchlight on other MDAs. No doubt, corruption exists in all of them in varying degrees. The corrupt men and women must be fished out and dealt with according to the laws of the land. All the corruption allegations must not be swept under the carpet in the usual Nigerian style.
The outcome of the probe must be made public and those indicted sanctioned adequately. Those laundering money for politicians must be fished out and prosecuted. The probe of Humanitarian ministry must be fair to all parties involved. Those already being grilled should be regarded as innocent until the contrary is proved. Their human rights and dignity must be respected. But those found guilty must be punished.
Although some Nigerians have called for the scrapping of the embattled ministry, there is no need for that. What the ministry requires is reformation to do better. Moving forward, the ministry should work with verifiable data. Nigerians would like to know the number of the poor it is interfacing with, state by state and local government by local government. The poor people should have recognizable names, faces and addresses. They should not be faceless. At least some Nigerians can acknowledge those from their villages and towns. The poverty alleviation schemes, conditional cash transfer, tradermoney and school feeding programme should not be shrouded in secrecy.
Let government show examples that it is serious about fighting official graft by punishing the culprits. Corruption thrives simply because the entire system is rotten and easily compromised. The system is broken down and not working. That is why some people dip their hands in the till and collect as much cash as possible. They see government’s money as belonging to no one. That is why Nigeria ranks very low at 150 out of 180 countries rated in Transparency International (TI) corruption index for some years now. Yet, we are a very religious and prayerful nation. What a contradiction?
