Sadiya Umar-Farouq, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development under former President Muhammadu Buhari will Wednesday face the detectives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over alleged fraud to the tune of N37 billion.
The former minister was invited last week by the anti-graft agency following a probe that was launched into her activities in the ministry when she held sway in the last six years.
She was being probed over the sum of N37,170,855,753.44 that was allegedly laundered under her watch through a contractor, James Okwete.
Officials of the anti-graft agency told our correspondent on Tuesday that the former minister had earlier been asked to appear before interrogators at the EFCC headquarters located at Jabi, Abuja, by 10:00am.
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The operatives explained that some other officials who worked with her had equally been invited for different days in order to provide an insight into how the affairs of the ministry were run in the last six years.
This is just as President Bola Tinubu has ordered immediate suspension of Halima Shehu as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and the National Coordinator of the National Social Investment Programme Agency (NSIPA).
Tinubu has since replaced Ms Halima with Akindele Egbuwalo, the national N-Power programme manager, in acting capacity pending an investigation initiated into the activities of the embattled former head of the agency.
Daily Trust reports that NSIPA, which is responsible for managing critical programmes like N-Power and Conditional Cash Transfer, has been under scrutiny in recent times, with concerns raised about efficiency and effectiveness.
The agency is under the humanitarian affairs ministry.
Although, the reason Ms Shehu was suspended was yet to be made public up till the time of filing this report last night, an official of the EFCC told Daily Trust that the embattled NSIPA boss also has questions to answer.
When contacted, the spokesman of the anti-graft agency, Dele Oyewale, who did not deny or comment on the development, promised to get back to our correspondent.
He was yet to do so as at the time of filing this report last night.
The ex-minister’s travails
Former Minister Sadiya had last week Monday tweeted on her X handle that she was not involved in any fraudulent activities while she held sawy as supervisor of the humanitarian ministry.
She had said, “There have been a number of reports linking me to a purported investigation by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission into the activities of one James Okwete, someone completely unknown to me.
“James Okwete neither worked for, nor represented me in any way whatsoever. The linkages and associations to my person are spurious. While I resist the urge to engage in any media trial whatsoever, I have however contacted my legal team to explore possible options to seek redress on the malicious attack on my person.
“I remain proud to have served my country as a minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria with every sense of responsibility and would defend my actions, stewardship and programmes during my tenure whenever I am called upon to do so”, she had stressed.
Efforts to speak to the former minister yesterday on her scheduled appearance at the EFCC office today were not successful, as calls to her known telephone line did not go through and she did not respond to a text and WhatsApp messages as of press time.
The raid at NSIPA
Hajiya Halima was suspended as the National Coordinator of NSIPA almost three months after her appointment and confirmation by the Senate in October 2023.
The National Social Investment Programme was set up to lift millions of Nigerians out of poverty, promote social inclusion and restore the livelihood of poor and vulnerable citizens.
The agency is also responsible for managing poverty-alleviation programmes like the National Home-Grown School Feeding.
She had earlier served with the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs between 2017 and 2022 – the ministry which Sadiya, who faces the EFCC today supervised.
Meanwhile, the suspended NSIPA boss was about to address the press yesterday when EFCC operatives stormed her office in Abuja, a development that led to a stalemate.
However, after the operatives carried out a search in her office at Maitama District, Ms. Halima thereafter shelved the idea of the press conference.
Sources close to the embattled NSIPA coordinator confided in our correspondent that there has been unreported rift between Halima Shehu and the current Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Dr. Beta Edu, since her assumption of office over alleged unilateral use of funds from the agency’s accounts meant for disbursement to vulnerable groups.
The sources further alleged that the minister at one point engaged the services of seven commercial banks for the disbursement of the intervention funds under the agency without the knowledge of the coordinator. The sources revealed that though the suspended coordinator went ahead with the minister’s arrangement, she however reduced the number of the banks to four over alleged lack of recovery mechanisms by the other three banks.
“This was when the minister started bypassing the coordinator and starting liaising with her subordinates,” one of the sources close to the embattled NSIPA coordinator, said.
One of our correspondents who was at the agency when the EFCC raided the place yesterday reported that plans had been completed for disbursement of funds to some vulnerable groups at Karu, on the outskirts of Abuja yesterday when a change of guard at NSIPA was announced.
Another source close to Halima Shehu said some superior persons were making efforts to hijack the cash transfer programme under her watch and had been mounting pressure on the embattled NSIPA boss “to compromise the national social register”, which is used to disburse funds to beneficiaries across the country.
Recently at a press briefing in Abuja, Halima reiterated her resolve to ensure accountability and transparency in the implementation of the $800 million World Bank Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) programme.
She had said that the beneficiaries are being captured through a National Social Register sourced from the social registers of the 36 states and the FCT.
Several calls to the current minister of humanitarian affairs yesterday to respond to the allegations were not responded to.
Dr. Edu did not also respond to a text message as of press time.
Her spokesman, Rasheed Olanrewaju could also not be reached.
But a different source close to the minister said Halima Shehu was appointed by President Tinubu and he had the right to suspend her.
“It is all about transparency,” he said. “The suspended coordinator and the people around her should wait for the outcome of the investigation, please.
“They should stop attempting to give the minister a bad name in order to hang her and I want to assure you that Nigerians would get to know what is truly happening at the agency,” the source said.
Meanwhile, the Executive Director of Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), Auwal Musa Rafsanjani has cautioned against the indiscriminate suspension of public officers, who are not confirmed to be engaged in corrupt practices.
While reacting to the suspension of Shehu as NSIPA national coordinator, Rafsanjani also stressed the need to check the excesses of ministers overseeing agencies and parastatals.
He said any public officer and political appointee can only be suspended or removed if such person is declared to be corrupt, incapacitated or resigned, as provided by extant laws.