SADIYA UMAR FAROUQ DENIES ALLEGATION OF N2.67Bn SCHOOL FEEDING FRAUD
Nigeria’s Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Umar Farouq, on Tuesday, September 29, 2020, has denied allegations that her Ministry is linked N2.67bn school feeding fraud uncovered by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC).
Recall that on Monday, September 28, the ICPC revealed that the N2.67 billion paid to some schools for feeding during the Coronavirus lockdown ended in a private bank account.
The Minister, who responded via a statement issued by Nneka Iken Anibeze, her special assistant on media and publicity, said the school feeding being referred to is different from the home grown school feeding programme which is one of her Ministry’s humanitarian Social Investment Programmes (SIP).
She revealed that the Federal Government spent half a billion to feed pupils during the lockdown imposed by the COVID-19 Pandemic.
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Farouq, while noting that the said other cases of fraud mentioned by the ICPC has nothing to do with her Ministry, stated that the home grown school feeding programme is for students in Primaries 1-3 in selected public schools across the country.
She said; “The Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development hereby informs the public that the Federal Government Colleges school feeding in question is different from the Home Grown School Feeding which is one of its Social Investment Programmes.
“That the School Feeding under scrutiny is feeding of students in Federal Government Colleges across the country and is not under the Federal ministry of Humanitarian Affairs which only oversees Home Grown School Feeding for children in Primaries 1-3 in select public schools across the country.
“That the over N2.5 billion which was reportedly misappropriated by a senior civil servant (name withheld) took place in a different ministry and not the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development.”
“The Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs therefore calls on the general public to disregard the false reports being linked to the ministry as it is not in anyway involved in the Federal Government Colleges School Feeding.”
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