I did not divert intervention programmes, funds to Bauchi, Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Sadiya replies APC group over alleged misappropriation

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3 years ago

Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Hajiya Sadiya Umar Farouq

The embattled Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Umar Farouq, has denied the allegation that she had diverted funds meant for the various government intervention programs to Bauchi state for political purposes.

The Minister also denied abandoning her office and relocating to Bauchi to push the political interest of her husband, Air Vice Marshal Abubakar Sadique (Rtd), who is contesting the 2023 governorship of Bauchi State on the platform of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

Sadiya Umar Farouk was reacting to allegations levelled against her by a group, ‘APC Initiative for Good Governance’ that the Minister had diverted Social Investment Programmes funds meant for the entire country to Bauchi State.

The Minister who reacted through her Media aide, Nneka Ikem Anibeze dismissed all the allegations in a statement made available to Journalists in Bauchi late Friday evening, stating that the Minister did not divert public funds meant for the country to Bauchi State.

According to the statement: “At no time did Umar Farouq divert Social Investment Programmes meant for the 36 states and the FCT to Bauchi, nor did she ever abandon the responsibilities in her office to relocate to Bauchi.”

It further contained that, “On the contrary, she has been working tirelessly and assiduously to ensure that no vulnerable Nigerian is left to go hungry, and to also lift them higher than where she met them.”

Nneka Anubeze added that “Since the creation of the Ministry in August 2019, at least 20 million Nigerians have so far been empowered through various programmes and initiatives of the Ministry.”

“The Hon. Minister Umar Farouq wishes to categorically state herewith, that she will not be deterred by belly-aching detractors who will stop at nothing to derail the lofty Social Investment Programmes of His Excellency President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration whose declared agenda is to lift 100 million vulnerable Nigerians out of poverty by 2030”, she further claimed.

She then reeled out some of the achievements of the Ministry since it was created in 2019, boasting that said that the Ministry, under the National Home Grown School Feeding Programme, a total of 9.9 million children from primary 1 to 3 in 53,000 public schools nationwide are currently being fed one hot nutritious meal every school day.

According to her, “This includes the upskilling of 1,064,774 youths in the graduate and non-graduate programmes under the N-Power scheme, of which the number of beneficiaries in Bauchi state ranked 11th out the 36 states and the FCT.”

She added that “The highest number of beneficiaries are from Benue, Delta, Enugu, FCT, Kaduna, Kano, Lagos, Osun, Oyo and Rivers states before Bauchi.”

“Under the National Home Grown School Feeding Programme, a total of 9.9 million children from primary 1 to 3 in 53,000 public schools nationwide are currently being fed one hot nutritious meal every school day”, she further stated.

Nneka Anibeze also stated that “Bauchi state is the 4th highest in terms of benefitting number of primary schools behind Kano, Benue and Kaduna states. In addition, Kano state has the highest number of children being fed, followed by Katsina, Kaduna, Niger, Jigawa, and Benue before Bauchi.”

“The Hon Minister, represented by the Permanent Secretary, recently flagged off the Cash Grant for Vulnerable Groups on July 4, 2022, in Oshogbo, Osun state. The faceless group may wish to explain to its followers, why Hajiya Sadiya Farouq did not start the distribution of Cash to Vulnerable Groups in Bauchi State”, she stressed.

“Sadiya Umar Farouq is a detribalized Nigerian politician, mother and wife. She spreads love evenly to the poor and vulnerable regardless of their state of origin, tribe or religion,” she added.

It was further noted that Sadiya Umar Farouq is a native of Zamfara state and married to a former Chief of Air Staff, Air Vice Marshal Abubakar Sadique stressing that, “By virtue of her marriage to an indigene of Bauchi state, the full rights of any Bauchi woman have been bestowed on her.”

The Media Aide concluded that “Therefore, the unregistered and unknown APC Initiative for Good Governance group cannot stop her from reaping or sowing the seeds of development in her husband’s state to the extent of its rightful share from the Ministry she heads, neither can their mischievous falsehood prevent her from supporting the political interest of her husband.”

It will be recalled that the group had warned the Minister to steer clear of Bauchi’s politics and face her responsibilities as a Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

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I did not divert intervention programmes, funds to Bauchi, Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Sadiya replies APC group over alleged misappropriation