Humanitarian ministry’s PS not ignorant of N585m fraud, must be suspended – concerned Nigerians

A Group under the auspices of Concerned Nigerians has called for the immediate suspension of the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Abel Olumuyiwa Enitan, over the alleged fraudulent activities committed under his watch.

Reacting on Friday, in Abuja, to the suspension of Betta Edu, the groups’ convener, Deji Adeyanju insisted that the permanent secretary to Edu was also involved in the scandal and couldn’t be put in charge of the ministry.

According to Adeyanju, almost all ministers under the Tinubu government transferred money into private accounts and breach civil service laws but regretted that only Betta was caught.

The group, therefore, called on the EFCC to investigate all ministries and not just Humanitarian alone. He said: “As we all know, the permanent secretary is not only the highest ranking civil servant in the ministry, but is also the chief financier officer of the ministry.

“In fact, the permanent secretary is the engine room of every ministry. While politicians come and go, the permanent secretary is always there until he or she resigns.

“It is, therefore, highly unlikely that the permanent secretary of the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs was unaware of the corrupt practices that was going on in that ministry.

“The permanent secretary ranks only next to the minister. How were these monies moved to private accounts without the knowledge of Mr. Abel Olumuyiwa Enitan, the permanent secretary?”

“Whose duty was it to bring the minister abreast with the various civil service rules aimed at prohibiting corrupt practices? Can the permanent secretary truly deny knowledge of the sleaze that went down in that ministry or is it a case of several persons dipping their hands into the public purse but only the person who was caught is called the thief?,” he queried.