Npower: Betta Edu Missing

At the meeting between First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu and women leaders of the All Progressives Congress, APC, two weeks ago at the Presidential Villa, suspended Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Betta Edu’s absence was not just a sad reminder of the fate that has befallen her but also the reality of power.

Many of the women at the event held to mark the International Women’s Day – six zonal leaders and thirty six others from across the states – were led by the National Women’s Leader, Dr Mary Idele Alile and her deputy, Hajia Zainab Ibrahim.

Months ago, some of these women had stormed Aso Rock to see President Bola Ahmed Tinubu over what they described as the domineering posture and inaccessibility of Betta Edu as National Women’s Leader of the governing party. They wanted Betta Edu the suspended Minister for Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation to be called to order and told to “always carry the women along.” That was shortly before Betta Edu was appointed minister. And the disaster that befell Betta Edu and made her a person non-grata before the powers that be. Suspended from office by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu over a messy disbursement of N585,195, 500.00 into a private bank account, Betta Edu has not been seen and nothing has been heard of her. Betta Edu appears to have gone scot free with a slap on the wrist for an offence that generated intense public outrage barely six months into the life of the administration, in spite of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s directive to the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, to carry out a “thorough investigation” of all the ministry’s financial transactions.”

As a follow-up, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu ordered the suspension of the National Social Investment Programmes, NSIP, such as Npower, Conditional Cash Transfer Programme, Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme and Home Grown School Feeding Programme pending investigations.

Betta Edu however has denied any wrong doing, with her office insisting that she had approved the transfer into a personal account for the “implementation of grants to vulnerable groups.”

Like a bolt from the blue, Edugate reverberated at the House of Representatives last Wednesday.

Representative Billy Osawaru (PDP, Edo) on Wednesday during plenary moved a motion stating that the suspension of the National Social Investment Programme (NSIP) during “this period of increasing hardship is “heightening the challenges of the vulnerable population relying on its assistance and could lead to a rise in poverty levels, social unrest and “ultimately impacting negatively on the overall stability and development of the country.”

Even the movement of the social investment programmes to the Federal Ministry of Finance was unlawful, Billy Osawaru argued.

“The alleged recommendation suggesting that a new steering committee board under the leadership of the minister of finance should henceforth oversee the social investment programmes is not only an anomaly but contravenes the extant law which situates the implementing agency and programmes under the purview of the ministry of humanitarian affairs and poverty alleviation,” Rep Billy Osawaru said.

Rep Billy Osawaru stated that until the National Social Investment Programme Agency Act 2023 is amended and enacted, decisions taken so far by the executive was a mere exercise in futility.

Against the background of the prevailing hardship in the country, Billy Osawaru prayed the House to “urge the government to direct a serving minister of state to oversee relevant approvals and implementation of the social investment programmes to minimise the adverse implication of increasing hunger and sufferings experienced by vulnerable Nigerians relying on the programme.”

Interestingly, representatives adopted the motion when Speaker Abbas Tajudeen put the motion to voice vote.

Investigations conducted however shows that until Edugate is sorted and resolved, it will continue to reverberate in different forms as it did at the House of Representatives last week. For one, Betta Edu is said to have been ‘banished’ from the Presidential Villa and public affairs circles, even as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) carry on with the presidential directive to thoroughly conduct investigation into the matter.

When approached for comments on Friday, a presidential source disclosed in confidence that the government was not in a hurry to conclude the issue as it has allowed due process to take its course.

“The Ministerial Committee set up to look into the Social Investment scheme is not an investigative panel. We want the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) to do their work. This should not in any way be seen to be as if Betta Edu has been left scot-free. No rush. As soon as the relevant agencies finish their work the final decision will be taken.”

Source: https://thewillnews.com/suspended-betta-edu-still-missing-in-action/