The presidency and the Senator representing Borno South Senatorial Distinct, Ali Ndume, exchanged hot words on Friday over the latter’s allegations of fraud in the Federal Government’s handling of funds meant to cushion the effects of COVID-19 on poor Nigerians.
The presidency in a statement on Friday challenged Ndume to provide proof for his allegations that officials of the federal government are fraudulent in the distribution of palliatives meant to alleviate the effects of the restrictions to contain the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19) in the country.
In a statement issued in Abuja by Garba Shehu, Senior Special Assistant to the President (Media & Publicity), the presidency said any individual found to be helping themselves rather than serving the people would be shown the way out only on the basis of evidence.
Titled “Senator Ali Ndume should figure out his mentioned ‘kleptocrats’ around the president or be quiet.
“When he was first elected President in 2015, President Muhammadu Buhari said that he belonged to everybody and belonged to nobody. What was true then remains true today.
“He believes in public service, as a servant of the people – and he expects the exact same commitment from members of his government and, of course, his closest aides.
“The President has made it clear times without number that anyone who will not, cannot, or does not pull his weight – nor meet these exacting standards – is not welcome in his administration. A number of ranking officials have been shown the way out at various times simply on account of this.
“Similarly, he believes in loyalty and truthfulness. Should any individuals be found to be serving themselves and not the people, then it is right and proper to call them out.
“But this must be done on the basis of evidence and proof – not on conjecture.
“It is therefore disappointing to hear a politician call out unnamed individuals in the administration and accuse them of unnamed transgressions.
“If this politician has evidence – then he should make public their identities as well as his proof. Innuendo is not proof.
But Ndume in a telephone interview with Saturday Tribune on Friday said he was not ready to join issues with anybody having made his observations known.
“I’m not ready to join issues with anybody on palliatives distribution, having made my observations known based on information I got from the grassroots as a grassroots person.
“I’ve made my position known on the programme and I stand by it.”
Ndume had claimed during a press conference addressed in Maiduguri a few days ago that the federal government’s relief committee headed by the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Sadiya Farouq, lacked the credibility to manage the huge resources at its disposal and should be disbanded.
During the series of meetings held with the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, the leadership of the National Assembly led by the Senate President, Senator Ahmad Lawan and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila and other members of the Body of Principal Officers frowned at the irregularities in the implementation of the conditional cash transfer and other components of the National Social Investment Programmes (NSIPs.
According to a document released by the agency via its verified twitter handle, a total of 2,644,495 households were captured in the National Social Register of Poor and Vulnerable Households (PVHHS) Distribution by State as of 31st March, 2020 with 11,045,537 individuals.
A breakdown of the total allocation per geopolitical zone showed that: North West got N112.7 billion; North Central N88.1 billion; North East N44.4 billion; South West N39.1 billion; South South N10.4 billion while South East got N3.3 billion.
A breakdown of the beneficiaries on state basis showed as follows: Abia – 41,246 households and 152,605 individuals; Adamawa – 52,471 households and 196,401 individuals; Akwa Ibom – 95,867 households and 405,822 individuals; Anambra – 43,146 households and 121,539 individuals; Bauchi – 47,712 households and 275,007 individuals; Bayelsa has 51,727 households and 184,876 individuals; Benue – 141,983 households and 628,463 individuals; Borno – 7,130 households and 33,728 individuals; Cross River – 27,604 households and 148,482 individuals; Delta – 30,338 households and 80,644 individuals; Edo – 43,260 households and 144,676 individuals; Ekiti – 15,119 households and 51,865 individuals, while Katsina has 176,724 households and 807,200 individuals.
Also, Enugu – 6,886 households and 27,013 individuals; FCT – 41,485 households and 156,260 individuals; Gombe – 31,982 households and 156,553 individuals; Imo – 24,426 households and 82,216 individuals; Jigawa – 168,542 households and 656,757 individuals; Kaduna – 90,794 households and 358,486 individuals; Kano – 151,315 households and 763,919 individuals; Kebbi – 219,102 households and 932,460 individuals; Kwara – 96,335 households and 417,358 individuals; Lagos – 14,434 households and 52,319 individuals; Nasarawa – 149,693 households and 542,774 households; Niger – 63,957 households and 329,593 individuals; Ondo – 75,312 households and 89,519 individuals; Osun – 64,931 households and 218,872 individuals; Oyo – 28,382 households and 99,569 individuals.
Plateau has 156,058 households and 585,289 individuals; Rivers – 73,601 households and 267,812 individuals; Sokoto – 3,347 households and 18,435 individuals; Taraba – 39,646 households and 106,691 individuals; Yobe 31,665 households and 163,711 individuals; Zamfara – 291,629 households and 1,341,153 individuals.
Reps members call for probe
Also on Friday, two members of the House of Representatives told Saturday Tribune that a foresnsic probe of the conditional cash transfer scheme should be carried out.
While reacting to the controversies trailing the allocation of the CCT fund, a member of the House of Representatives, Hon Henry Nwabuwa maintained that the palliative measure should be investigated.
“The palliatives need to be subject to serious oversight. Sectoral analysis revealed a systemic marginalisation of the South East which we are asking questions about. What is the criteria used? The system as is can be fraudulently manipulated. Palliatives must be specific and measurable. They must be timely and realistic. Cash payment across the table is unsustainable and we will be calling for the records as soon as we reconvene. Our people are asking us questions and we just don’t have answers. We need serious answers.
“If basic amenities are put in place by the Federal Government, then people won’t complain about the lockdown. Do you see what the Northern Governors said about not being able to follow the lockdown? The extension was right and I support it. But that is not the problem. The problem is a broken down system. The pandemic is exposing a lot of gaps in our system.
“People are hungry. You really cannot buy foodstuff for long term storage because the masses eke out a daily survival. How much do they even have to stock up with? This problem also cuts across different areas. When you stock up food you need electricity to keep the food fresh.
So it’s not just about the lockdown.
“The lockdown in itself was a necessary step to contain the spread. There are unconfirmed report that Brazil and Nigeria witnessed their COVID-19 index cases same day: February 27th, 2020 but today Brazil has thousands of cases while Nigeria is trying to contain it at about 500 cases,” Hon. Nwabuwa stressed.
On his part, Hon. Mark Gbillah (PDP-Benue) in an interview with Saturday Tribune underscored the need to conduct forensic investigation of the CCT scheme with the view to ascertain the identities of beneficiaries of the Conditional Cash Transfer across the country.
He said: first of all, it is an embarrassment to say they (Executive) are just adding 1 million, it is an insult on Nigerians. The question we are asking is where did that register emanate from and who are those people on that register? We are going to come back and carry out a forensic investigation about this SIP. Any administration that plays to the gallery and tries to cast aspersion on the National Assembly by suddenly starting a spurious investigation into Constituency project but cannot account for how many hundreds of billions that it releases every year they call a register. Who put up the register, is it the World Bank or Nigeria?
“That’s the stupid excuse they’ve been giving. So we’re not deceived, we are not impressed by this additional 1 million, the issue of Nigeria, for a country of an estimated 200 million and they are talking about adding 1 million to the existing 2.6 million, so they can only identify only 2.6 million people initially as being those who are vulnerable in a country of 200 million, are they serious? They are now adding 1 million, what difference does that make? So we are not deceived we will have to investigate those on that register and know these individuals and identify infact every single person who has collected this money on this programme.”
Both CCT national coordinator, Dr. Temitope Sankaiye and her press officer, Mr Henry Ayande did not respond to repeated requests from Saturday Tribune for their comments on the issues surrounding the programme.
Meanwhile, the sum of N1.5 billion has been proposed by the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development for the enrolment of 400,000 new beneficiaries of N-Power programme scheduled to commence in June 2020.
The breakdown of the N1.5 billion showed that the sum of N200 million was proposed for printing of forms; N300 million for enumerator fees; N400 million for Communications plan; N100 million for logistics, N100 million for security; N100 million for onboarding technology platform while N300 million is for physical validation.
According to a document titled: ‘National Assembly engagement on new beneficiaries enrolment for NSIP 2020’, the scheduled time table include: communication plan for the 400,000 new intakes will commence in June; 500,000 N-Power are to exit by July; sharing of forms with stakeholders scheduled for August, announcement of names of successful new beneficiaries by October while 400,000 new intakes will be absorbed by November 2020.
A breakdown of the target beneficiaries shows 20% skilled, 40% semi-skilled and 40% unskilled workforce, while the gender spread covers 40% women and 60% men while 10% for the Disabled Community will be involved.
As against the initial unilateral implementation of the programme, the Ministry as stipulated in its stakeholder mapping, is to extend its consultation to both the Legislature, the Judiciary and traditional Institutions.
The stakeholders include: Chief of Staff, Ministers; the Senate, House of Representatives, National Assembly Commission; Chief Justice of Nigeria, Supreme Court, Appeal and National Judicial Council as well as Governors and Speakers of State House of Assembly and traditional rulers.
The Special Adviser to the President on Social Investments, Mrs. Maryam Uwais who supervised the NSIO operations between November 2015 and September 2019 had on the 8th April, 2020 alleged that disregard for the World Bank Financing Agreement (FA) would risk the suspension of the utilization of the IDA Credit and the recovered funds for the cash transfer beneficiaries, which has outstanding balance of over $500 million.
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