N37 Billion Fraud: EFCC Freezes Private Accounts Worth N30Billion Linked to NSIP
Discover the latest news on EFCC's actions against financial corruption in Nigeria. Join us as we delve into the freezing of private accounts worth N30 billion linked to NSIP, investigating the realities of financial wrongdoings & their impacts on the nation.
The National Social Investment Programme Agency (NSIPA) has had 30 billion Naira frozen by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) after it was discovered in private accounts. Of this amount, it has been alleged that 44 billion Naira was transferred from the accounts of NSIPA by several officials of the agency. Investigations have shown these funds were moved from the NSIPA's accounts into private and company accounts associated with temporary figureheads.
Officials are currently under investigation, with the account freezes forming part of the inquiry. Recently, EFCC investigators questioned Halima Shehu, the suspended National Coordinator and CEO of NSIPA, for multiple hours. Mr. Bwai Adamu Hamza, NSIPA's most recent Director of Finance and Accounts, has also been apprehended by the EFCC. He retired from the agency last month and was, like Shehu, interrogated by a special task force.
However, former Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Umar-Farouq, failed to attend an EFCC interrogation session on January 3rd, 2024. Officials designated for her questioning were left waiting for her for hours.
New discoveries have been made during the ongoing investigation of NSIPA, including the realization that 44 billion Naira was removed from the agency’s vaults. Nevertheless, the EFCC has been able to recover and freeze 30 billion Naira of it. On Tuesday, 17 billion Naira was intercepted and later, an additional 13 billion Naira was also frozen. Detectives are presently investigating many accounts in an attempt to locate the unaccounted 14 billion Naira.
In December 2023, an open letter was written to President Bola Tinubu by Nigerian graduates involved in the government's National Social Investment Programme (N-Power) as part of the National Association of Npower Beneficiaries (NANB). The graduates appealed for prompt intervention due to the agency's failure to pay their stipends for nine months. The petition, signed by NANB's National Publicity Secretary, Adeshina Adex, expressed that the beneficiaries have been deprived of their funds for nine months.
