Halima Shehu, ex-national coordinator of the National Social Investment Programme Agency (NSIPA), has dismissed allegations that she diverted N44 billion of public funds.
Shehu, who was appointed in October 2023, was suspended by
President Bola Tinubu in January 2024.
She was investigated by the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission (EFCC) over alleged unauthorised withdrawals from NSIPA accounts
into private and corporate accounts.
Speaking in an interview with FactNews, Shehu said she never
made transfer of funds to personal accounts.
“There was no N44 billion. The figures are not even correct.
Yes, funds were transferred to commercial banks and to payment service
providers but the question Nigerians should be asking is, ‘the transfer of the
funds that happened under Halima Shehu’s supervision, is that the right thing
to do?’,” she asked.
“Because when you’re working with funds and you’re supposed
to deliver to beneficiaries after digitisation, how are you expected to get the
funds to the beneficiaries? Am I going to sit in the comfort zone of my house
and start to call beneficiaries, come and collect?
“There was never a transfer of funds by Halima Shehu to
personal accounts.”
Shehu said allegations that the sum was recovered from her
personal accounts were baseless, adding that there is “no structure that allows
that even in the CBN”.
“To think that, overnight, they said in two days that Halima
Shehu transferred N44 billion to personal accounts. It sounds absurd,” she
added.
She said reports alleging she confessed to making such
transfers were fabricated.
“I saw a breaking news that Halima said she transferred N44
billion to personal account by mistake. What mistake? That’s stupidity. There’s
no such thing. They are lies. That never happened,” she said.
Shehu also rejected reports that the EFCC discovered N17.8
billion in her office.
“Even the banks, do they have N17.8 billion cash? Talk less
of Halima Shehu having them in her office,” she said.
The ex-NSIPA boss said during her stint in office, she
discovered irregular financial transactions.
“I noticed that N14.8 billion had left the agency’s account
without due recourse to me as the CEO, without my consent, approval, or
knowledge,” she said.
“I observed that the misappropriations actually took place,
funds left the account without due recourse to me, yet I’m the chief accounting
officer. I was mandated to make sure I know where every naira and every kobo
goes to.”
She alleged that financial transactions in the agency were
deliberately routed to bypass her, going instead from her superior to her
subordinates.
“There was a total bypass in the structure, in the financial
structure of the agency, ever since I was appointed and I was not aware.
Transactions didn’t come to me. They come from my boss to my subordinates. And
who is your boss? Well, my boss is Betta Edu,” Shehu said.
Shehu reiterated that she neither misappropriated funds nor
confessed to doing so, describing the allegations as “cock and bull stories”.
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