Probe N57b missing in humanitarian ministry, SERAP tells Tinubu

Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has urged President Bola Tinubu to direct the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), and anti-corruption agencies to probe allegations that over N57 billion of public funds are missing, diverted or stolen from the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation in 2021 alone.

SERAP added that hundreds of billions of naira were also reportedly missing in other Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs). According to the organisation, the damning revelations are documented in the 2021 audited report released last week by the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation.

SERAP said anyone suspected to be responsible should face prosecution as appropriate, with sufficient admissible evidence, saying any missing public funds should be fully recovered and remitted to the treasury.

The body urged the President to use any recovered stolen funds to fund the deficit in the 2025 budget, and to issue an immediate moratorium on borrowing by the Federal Government to ease Nigeria’s crippling debt crisis.

In the letter, written at the weekend and signed by SERAP’s Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare, the organisation said the allegations amounted to stealing from the poor.

“There is a legitimate public interest in ensuring justice and accountability for these grave allegations,” the body said. According to SERAP, the allegations also suggest a grave violation of the public trust, the Nigerian Constitution 1999 (as amended), the country’s anti-corruption legislation and international anticorruption obligations.

SERAP lamented that poor Nigerians had continued to pay the price for the widespread corruption in the ministry and other MDAs. The organisation recalled that the 2021 yearly audited report by the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation, the Humanitarian Affairs ministry in 2021 failed to account for over N54 billion (N54,630,000,000.00) meant to pay monthly stipends to Batch C1 N-Power volunteers and non-graduate trainees between August and December 2021.

SERAP noted that the money was ‘not directly paid to the beneficiaries.

“The auditor-general is concerned that the money may have been diverted. He wants the money recovered and remitted to the treasury. He also wants suspected perpetrators of the diversion to be sanctioned in line with the financial regulations.

“The ministry also reportedly failed to account for over N2.6 billion (N2,617,090,786.00) of public funds meant for the home-grown school-feeding programme during COVID-19, as ‘the programme was never executed.

“The money was allegedly paid to five contractors to procure, package and distribute COVID-19 palliatives to Kano, Zamfara and Abia states, but without any trace,” SERAP recalls among other accounted money.

These allegations by the Auditor-General, SERAP said, are different from the allegedly missing or unaccounted for N729 billion, which is the subject-matter of the judgment by Justice Deinde Dipeolu.