The Minister for Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Umar Farouk, has at the late hours of Monday distanced self from the report of diverted School Feeding Fund reported by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences (ICPC) on 28th September, 2020.
Recall:Breaking: N2.67 Billion Home Grown School Feeding Fund stashed in some Private Accounts -ICPC
In a press statement signed by the Humanitarian Minister's Media Assistant, Mrs Nneka Ikem Anibueze, she stated "the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development wishes to dissociate itself from a trending report in the media titled “N2.72b for School Feeding During Lockdown Diverted To Private Accounts”.
"The report emanated after a presentation by the Chairman of ICPC, Prof. Bolaji Owasanoye at the 2nd National Summit on Diminishing Corruption and was presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari, at the Council Chambers of the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Monday."
""The report states thus:
“preliminary investigation had indicated that part of the N2.67billion was diverted to private accounts. It also revealed that over N2.5 billion was misappropriated by a senior civil servant (name withheld) in the ministry of agriculture and now deceased, for himself and cronies”".
Mrs Anibueze stated defensively that the statement by ICPC was twisted and misinterpreted by mischief makers and directed at the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs.
The Media assistant pointed out that the Federal Government Colleges school feeding in question is different from the Home Grown School Feeding which is one of its Social Investment Programmes.
She added that the School Feeding under scrutiny is feeding of students in Federal Government Colleges across the country and is not under the Federal ministry of Humanitarian Affairs which only oversees Home Grown School Feeding for children in Primaries 1-3 in select public schools across the country.
Mrs Anibueze stressed that the over N2.5 billion which was reportedly misappropriated by a senior civil servant (name withheld) took place in a different ministry and not the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development.
"That the ICPC recovered N16 billion worth of assets from the said ministry which was paid into an individual account for non-official purposes and not the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development", Mrs Anibueze added.
The Media Assistant stressed again that the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs , Disaster Management and Social Development describes those casting aspersions on the Minister Sadiya Umar Farouq as malicious and unfair and calls on The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC to publish the names of persons, federal colleges and school heads whose names have been found to be associated with the missing funds and also freeze the accounts where the said funds were diverted.
"The Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs therefore calls on the general public to disregard the false reports being linked to the ministry as it is not in anyway involved in the Federal Government Colleges School Feeding," She concluded.
However, many Nigerians have thronged the Ministry's Social Handle to question why there was a school feeding program when Schools were on lockdown, alleging that it was a deliberate measure to perfect the plans as indicated by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences (ICPC).
Nigerians especially N-power Volunteers, on the social media comment section, urged ICPC to also investigate the motive behind their sudden disengagement from the N-power Program, non-payment of Stipends up to 4 Months to more than 14,000 N-power Beneficiaries amounting in Billions of Naira and refusal to pay their July Stipends upon disagengement amidst COVID-19 Pandemic, to their peril and also their families.
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