The Labour Party has called for the scrapping of the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation amid the scandals bedevilling it.
The ministry has been in the news for the wrong reasons. It was first the N37.1bn fraud said to have been perpetrated during the time of Hajia Sadiya Umar-Farouk as its minister, which has become a matter of investigation by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and cost the Chief Executive Officer of National Social Investment Programme Agency, Halima Shehu her job.
Next, is the incumbent minister, Betta Edu’s imprudence.
Edu is facing trouble for directing the Accountant-General of the Federation, Dr Oluwatoyin Madein, to pay N585m into the private bank account of a project accountant in her ministry, Bridget Oniyelu.
To the Labour Party, the ministry is just a conduit pipe for the All Progressives Congress to steal from the country’s coffers and deserved to be cancelled.
The opposition party alleged this in a statement its National Publicity Secretary
Obiora Ifoh released in which it also called for Edu’s sack.
It reads in part, “The ministry was created ab initio to scam Nigeria and Nigerians. We shouted about all that happened in that ministry under the watchful eyes of the then President, Muhammadu Buhari, and at the end of the day we found out that it was a monumental looting of the nation’s treasury since they created the ministry.
“The ministry was created to benefit the APC individuals. It was used for election and we knew what happened. Now under this government, they have just up the ante and you can see in the last week the revelations that have been coming out that the minister herself is working for some powerful entities in the government.
“We are not just calling for the minister’s arrest; we want the ministry to be scrapped because it serves a purpose for just a few Nigerians.
“They should be investigated; we have always said this. The investigation should start from the former minister to the present minister.
“And this present minister, if the money is truly found in a private account, should be with the EFCC explaining by now and everyone under that ministry who has a hand in the looting or the diversion of public funds should be made to account for such.”
