The African Democratic Congress has alleged that N33.75bn earmarked for cash transfers to 3.29 million Nigerian households could not be traced to verified beneficiaries, describing the development as evidence of alleged corruption in the Federal Government’s social investment programme.
The party said the finding by the Auditor-General of the Federation raised serious questions about the whereabouts of funds meant to provide relief to poor and vulnerable Nigerians.
In a statement on Monday, ADC National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, accused the administration of President Bola Tinubu of turning social intervention programmes into what he described as an organised scheme for allegedly diverting funds meant for the poor.
“Let us call this what it is. Not mismanagement. Not an oversight. It is an organised racket, which this government has run under the guise of a social intervention programme. They are stealing from the poor and telling them to continue to endure hardship,” Abdullahi said.
The party recalled previous controversies surrounding the National Social Investment Programme, alleging that N585m was transferred to a private account linked to former Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Betta Edu, during the early years of the Tinubu administration.
The ADC also alleged that N44bn went missing from the National Social Investment Programme Agency under its former head, Halima Shehu.
It said the latest Auditor-General’s finding that N33.75bn could not be matched with verified beneficiaries, within a larger N78bn intervention fund, had further heightened concerns over the management of social investment funds.
“This latest report of an unaccounted N33.75 billion intervention fund, buried inside a larger N78 billion fund, and the historical pattern of corruption that has trailed this kind of programme would suggest that this government has found a way to steal from the poor by turning the social intervention programme into a criminal enterprise,” the party said.
The opposition party also questioned the Federal Government’s decision to announce a new $1bn Renewed Hope Social Protection Programme despite the concerns raised over previous interventions.
“Barely weeks before this audit blew up in their faces, they wheeled out a new $1 billion so-called ‘Renewed Hope Social Protection Programme’ with the usual State House fanfare. Given the familiar history, we are in no doubt that even in the unlikely event that this latest intervention is ever implemented, it would end up like the others before it: another racket,” Abdullahi said.
The ADC further blamed the government’s economic policies, particularly fuel subsidy removal and currency devaluation, for worsening hardship and increasing the number of Nigerians dependent on government assistance.
“This is a government that manufactured hardship with one hand and pocketed the relief with the other. Fuel prices up. Transport costs up. Food prices up. And the one programme meant to soften the blow turns out to be a black hole. Enough is enough,” the party stated.
The ADC consequently demanded a full investigation into the social investment programme and called for the immediate publication of the complete beneficiary register, REMITA payment trail and the names of officials it alleged obstructed the Auditor-General’s investigation.
