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The Accountant General of the Federation (AGF), Dr Oluwatoyin Madein, has denied the report that her office paid a sum of ₦585 million into a private account as instructed by Betta Edu, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation.
In a leaked memo dated December 20, 2023, the minister authorised the the payment of N585 million into the private account of one Oniyelu Bridget Mojisola.
The minister said the money was for the payment of grants for vulnerable groups in Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Lagos and Ogun States.
Reacting to the allegation, the Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to the minister, Rasheed Zubair, said the disbursement of ₦585,189,500.00 into a personal account followed due process.
In a statement released on Friday, January 5, 2023, Zubair said the corruption allegation against Edu is a smear campaign by disgruntled elements to stain her integrity.
The statement reads in part, “It is glaring that the same sponsored disgruntled elements in the past few days have been trying to smear the Honourable Minister, Dr Betta Edu, and stain her integrity because she alerted the Federal Government attention to the ongoing N44.8 Billion Fraud in NSIPA.
“These elements have been trying to link her to a phantom fraud and are behind this latest misadventure. However, this latest vile effort of theirs is another infantile blackmail doomed for evisceration.
Zubair further explained that Oniyelu Bridget is the project accountant for the Renewed Hope Grant for Vulnerable Groups, adding that in civil service, it is legal to pay the funds for a project into the account of the project accountant.
“Oniyelu Bridget is the Project Accountant for GVG from the Department of Finance, and it is legal in civil service for a staff, the project accountant, to be paid and use the same funds legally and retire the same with all receipts and evidence after the project or programme is completed,” he said.
However, contrary to Edu’s claim, Madein has clarified that the Office of the Accountant General of the Federal does not make payments on behalf of ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs) for projects implemented by them.
The AGF explained that allocations are released to self-accounting MDAs that are responsible for the implementation of their projects in line with the budget.
In a statement on Saturday, January 6, 2022, the AGF clarified that although her office received the said request from the Ministry, it did not carry out the payment.
Meanwhile, the crisis currently rocking Edu’s ministry has been attributed to the conflict between the minister and the suspended National Coordinator of the National Social Investment Programme Agency (NSIPA), Halima Shehu.