Minister Edu’s request payment of N585.2 million into private account is illegal, says accountant general

The Accountant General of the Federation, Oluwatoyin Madein, has countered the claim by the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Betta Edu, over the payment of N585.2 million of government funds into a private bank account of an official.

Penpushing reports that Madein counter claim was contained in a statement, on Saturday, and equally distanced her office from the illegal transaction by the Minister and declared the minister’s action as illegal.

The Accountant General however, admitted that her office had received the Minister’s request for the transfer of the N585.2 million to Ms Oniyelu’s private account, but that she refused to honour it.

‘The Ministry was advised on the appropriate steps to take in making such payments in line with the established payment procedure. No bulk payment is supposed to be made to an individual’s account in the name of the Project Accountant’, she emphasised

Penpushing further reports that Madein explained that payments like N585.2 million are usually processed by the affected ministries as self-accounting entities, stressing that that such payment should be sent to the beneficiaries through their verified bank accounts

The action of the Minister, however, implies that she went ahead to pay the N585.2 million into Ms Oniyelu’s private account, against the Accountant General of the Federation advice, and in violation of Nigeria’s law.

Penpushing also reports that the Edu’s memo adds another layer of scandal to the ongoing Economic and Financial Crimes Commission(EFCC) investigation of the suspended National Coordinator of the National Social Investment Programme Agency (NSIPA), Halima Shehu over alleged N37.1 billion fraud in the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs.

The suspended National Coordinator of the National Social Investment Programme Agency (NSIPA), it is recalled in December, said over 1.5 million households in the country have received N20,000 from the Conditional Cash Transfer programme of the Nigerian Government.

Penpushing reports that a leaked memo revealed that the Minister, in December, requested the Accountant General of the Federation, to transfer the money from the National Social Investment office account to the United Bank of Africa (UBA) account of Bridget Oniyelu.

The Minister’s predecessor, Sadiya Umar-Farouk, is being investigated by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for alleged fraud, while the government intervention programme is now tainted by the fraud allegations

Penpushing further reports that the accountant of a federal government poverty intervention project called Grants for Vulnerable Groups, while Nigerians, outraged by the memo, are calling for Edu’s suspension from office.

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