The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has successfully recovered approximately N39.8 billion from the alleged embezzlement of N44.8 billion traced back to the former National Coordinator of the National Social Investment Programme (NSIPA), Halima Shehu.
In the ongoing investigation, the EFCC is scrutinizing the involvement of three second-generation banks in the illicit transfers of funds earmarked for poverty alleviation and other intervention schemes by the current government.
Halima Shehu, who was relieved of her position as the National Coordinator of NSIPA, purportedly approved the withdrawal of N44 billion from the government account within a span of five days, specifically between December 27th and December 31st, 2023.
Reliable sources reveal that the year-end transfer of the unspent N44.8 billion was a customary practice in the Ministry. However, it was brought to light this time by Betta Edu, who promptly reported the incident to the EFCC.
The former NSIPA head is alleged to have transferred these funds to various individual accounts and companies through certain commercial banks without obtaining any necessary approvals from the President, the Federal Executive Council, or the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Dr. Betta Edu.
It’s worth recalling that the Ministry, under the former Minister Dr. Sadiya Umar Farouq, faced severe criticism for multiple cases of fraud related to government intervention funds such as School Feeding, Conditional Cash Transfer, and N-Power.
The problems that were brought up raised worries because people were concerned that the Ministry wasn’t being open and responsible.
This lack of accountability and transparency made people doubt and lose confidence in what the Ministry was doing.
