Mrs. Sadiya Umar Farouq, Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, has made a clarification on the N2.67bn school feeding money which was found in a private account. It will be recalled that Chairman of ICPC, Prof. Bolaji Owasanoye disclosed this while delivering a keynote address at the second National Summit on Diminishing Corruption with the theme: “Together Against Corruption and the launch of the National Ethics and Integrity Policy” held at the Council Chambers of the Presidential Villa, Abuja on Monday September 28.
Sadiya Farouq in a statement released by her Special Assistant on Media and Publicity Nneka Ikem Anibeze, said the school feeding in question is different from the home grown school feeding programme which is one of the humanitarian ministry’s social investment programmes (SIP).
The Minister who further insisted that the other cases of fraud mentioned by the ICPC have nothing to do with her ministry, called 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.
The statement read;
“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, Disaster Management and Social Development calls on The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC to publish the names of persons, federal colleges and school heads whose names have been found to be associated with the missing funds and also freeze the accounts where the said funds were diverted.
“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.”
