The Platform for Liberty & Democracy (PLIDE) has taken note of the recent events within the governance structure of the nation, especially as they relate to the following institutions and persons:
1. Betta Edu
2. Sadiya Umar-Farouk
3. Halima Shehu
4. Tunji Olubunmi-Ojo
5. Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs & Poverty Alleviation
6. National Social Investment Programme Agency (NSIPA)
We note the cases of alleged monumental corruption and gross mismanagement of the Nation’s resources as far as these former/current appointees are concerned.
It is heartwarming that the current president, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu has done away with the tardiness of the past and has, instead, taken proactive measures in seeking to reassure citizens that no one should be (and no one is) above the laws of the land.
We wish to reiterate that this must not be like past cases when ‘initial gra-gra’ was done by government in respect of similar matters and, knowing how short the attention span of the citizens are to matters such as this, especially as they have to grapple with survival on a daily basis, nothing much ever came out of such cases.
We recall the case of the “Grasscutter” i.e. former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr. David Babachir Lawal, who was eventually suspended by then President Muhammadu Buhari after relentless calls for action by civil society, the Press and citizens. Not much was heard of the very bad case until we learnt he had been cleared ‘somehow’ by the system.
In this case, we demand that full investigations be carried out by the relevant agencies and the findings made public whilst ensuring all those with cases to answer are hauled before the courts of justice, to have their day in court whilst the innocent (if any) are allowed to continue with their normal lives.
Beyond this matter, though, is the more serious matter of how easy it is to move funds from government coffers to accounts in the name of individuals, all in the name of running government business. If these recent matters did not come to the open, little or nothing would have been known about this very opaque structure. Little wonder individuals such as the former Accountant-General of the Federation could have, allegedly, stolen over a hundred billion naira from our patrimony, without the system knowing until the deed had been done.
We take note of President Tinubu’s directive to Chief Wale Edun, the Coordinating Minister of the Economy/Minister of Finance, to restructure the payment architecture of the Humanitarian Affairs Ministry. This is a step in the right direction but would amount to tokenism if Nigerians are not told whether or not the same lax financial processes in Betta Edu’s Ministry also apply to every other Ministry of government.
In light of the foregoing, we call for the following:
1. A full Root & Branch Review of the Financial/Payment Architecture of the Federal Government, so as to ensure that lax and inadequate systems are identified and steps taken immediately to ensure identified loopholes are plugged and appropriate measures taken to ensure that adequate systems (and structures) are put in place to ensure that stealing of government funds is eliminated or, at least, minimized greatly if not possibly to eliminate.
2. The setting up of a monitoring unit in the EFCC, charged with, on an ongoing basis, carrying out checks and initiating investigations into payment requests received by the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation and ensuring frauds against the Nation are stopped into their tracks whilst, also, going after perpetrators in order to bring them to justice and ensure that the confidence of Nigerians is restored in their leaders and in governments across all levels (as we expect these initiatives to be extended to all levels of governance as well).
Signed:
PLIDEite Tunde Owoseni
Convener
PLIDEite Sola Fayemi
Sec-Gen (IHQ)
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