Between 2019 and 2023, the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development illegally transferred over N1.4 billion into the private bank accounts of eight members of its staff.
Data obtained from Govspend exposed the transfers, which were made in contravention of the various financial regulations of the country on public finance. The data shows that this illegality occurred under the suspended minister, Betta Edu, as well as under her predecessor, Sadiya Farouq, both of whom are being investigated by the EFCC for corruption.
Ms Edu was suspended by President Bola Tinubu folowing a public outcry over a disclosure that she approved the transfer of N583 million into a private account. However, the illegality has been practised in the ministry from the time of Mrs Farouq, who was the pioneer minister.
Aside from these officials, the president also suspended all four programmes administered by NSIPA – N-Power Programme, Conditional Cash Transfer Programme, Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme, and Home Grown School Feeding Programme – and ordered a holistic review of the operations of the programmes.
The bag men of the ministry
Within four years, the ministry transferred public funds into the accounts of eight officials. The recipients are Balogun Ibrahim, Ahmed Bomai, Oni Samuel O, Adelana Kazeem, Oyegbile Adeniran, Attahiru Zagga, Umar Idris and Ezenekwe Chibuzor.
The funds were transferred in tranches in a total of 118 transactions made between 2019 and December 2023.
According to the document, Balogun Taiwo Ibrahim received N557.8 million in 43 tranches between 2020 and 2023. In 2020, N18.4 million was transferred to his account, and N9.8 million in 2021. In 2022, he got N137.2 million in 15 transactions and in 2023, N392 million in 25 transactions.
In a single day on 30 December 2023, Mr Ibrahim received five transfers totaling N59.7 million. Some of the titles for the payments raise significant suspicion. For instance, N14.2 million and N10 million were transferred on the same day for “Being payment ‘iro’ correspondence with the national council on climate change” (“iro” in civil service-speak stands for “in respect of”).
In another instance, the ministry paid N17.3 million into the account of this individual for “Being payment “iro” scaling up of the unified social register.”
N256 million for Ahmed Bomai
Mr Bomai received N266.2 million in 25 transfers between 2020 and 2023. The transactions started very small but grew over time. In 2020, N13.8 million was transferred into his account. In 2022, the ministry sent him N94.9 million in 12 tranches and N147.3 million in 2023.
In November 2023, the ministry said it spent N14.6 million on victims of flood in Lagos and Ogun states. The funds were paid into the account of Mr Bomai, rather than directly into the accounts of the beneficiaries.
In a similar fashion, N206.8 million was transferred into the accounts of Adelana Kazeem. He received N31.9 million in 2022 and N174.6 million in 2023. The transfers were made in small tranches.
Concerning the other recipients, Oyegbile Adeniran received £80 million from the ministry in six transactions, Oni Samuel got N22.1 million in two transactions, Ezenekwe Chibuzo, N42.1 million in three transactions; Attahiru Aminu Zagga, N49 million in four transactions; and Umar Idris, N220.06 million in 19 transactions.
All the eight are staff of the ministry and many of them work in the cash office of the ministry. The ministry confirmed their identities in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOI) request from this newspaper.
N20.3 million for logistics for budget defence session
PREMIUM TIMES found that the use of private accounts helped the ministry in concealing bribes and other illegal acts. For instance, a N20.3 million moved into the account of Mr Ibrahim was for "logistics for the production of budget defence for various committees" (perhaps of the National Assembly).
On 11 November 2023, the ministry transferred N10.1 million and N10.2 million in separate transactions into the same account with the explanation: “Being payment ‘iro’ payment and logistics for the production of budget defence documents for various committees batch I and II respectively."
Committees of the National Assembly are notorious for extracting bribes from ministries, departments and agencies. The description of the N20.3 million transferred to Mr Ibrahim seems like a euphemism for “illegal settlement of lawmakers.”
PREMIUM TIMES in a series of reports exposed how committees of the National Assembly hid under the guise of investigative hearings and budget defence sessions to extract money from MDAs. Rattled by the expose, the lawmakers changed tactics: they now demand their bribes in cash and avoid bank transfers.
What does the law say on transfer of public funds into private accounts?
The law discourages and even criminalises the practice. The provisions of Nigeria’s Financial Regulations of 2009 are very clear on handling of government money.
Chapter Seven, Section 713 of the regulation states that “Personal money shall in no circumstances be paid into a government bank account, nor shall any public money be paid into a private account.” It also adds that: “Any officer who pays public money into a private account is deemed to have done so with fraudulent intention.”
Chapter 10, Section 1001 of the regulations sheds light on what it described as ‘imprest’, which is “applicable to all sums advanced to a public officer to meet expenditure under current estimates, for which vouchers cannot immediately be presented to a Sub-Accounting Officer for payment.”
“Imprests are issued by the Accountant-General of the Federation and the Accounting Officers of Self-Accounting ministries/extra-ministerial offices and other arms of government,” section 1002 explains further that: “The authority for issuing Imprests is conveyed in the Annual General Imprest Warrant issued by the ‘Minister of Finance to the Accountant-General.”
According to the financial regulations, there are two types of imprest, namely standing imprest and special imprests. The latter, which is granted for a particular purpose, "must be retired in full when the purpose has been achieved." The former "may be replenished from time to time during a financial year by the submission of paid vouchers to Sub-Accounting Officers for reimbursement."
Often, MDAs use section 1001 of the Financial Regulations to justify the transfer of money into the accounts of employees, claiming that it is "imprest" to meet exigency. Ministries pay money directly into accounts of officers before the money is finally paid into the accounts of the beneficiaries - this practice gives room for the type of corruption the government is trying to prevent with the law.
The Deputy Director of Fiscal Accounts in the office of the Accountant-General of the Federation, James Abalaka, had told this newspaper that the Financial Regulations 2009 recognises circumstances in which public money can be paid into private accounts. Mr Abalaka noted that MDAs are responsible for money paid into private accounts. According to him, the Office of the Accountant-General through the Government Integrated Financial and Management Information System (GIFMIS) only facilitates payments of vouchers raised by MDAs.
Mr Abalaka told PREMIUM TIMES that there are three layers — initiator, reviewer, and final approval — of payments in every MDA. "The initiator is someone who initiates payment after a permanent secretary’s approval," he explained. "The reviewer then reviews it and checks whether there are adjustments to be made before passing it for final approval where the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) makes the payments."
However, that position was challenged by Joe Abah, a former Director-General of the Bureau of Public Service Reforms, who maintained that funds for projects or activities should not be paid into the account of officials of the MDAs. He said the financial regulations condemn "paying project activity money into private bank accounts, like was alleged to be done in the Betta Edu case."
Aside from the financial regulations, the Nigerian government has invested huge resources in the acquisition of technological platforms like the GIFMIS, which "aims at improving the acquisition, allocation, utilisation, and conservation of public financial resources using automated and integrated, effective, efficient, and economic information systems."
Through the use of private accounts, the ministry has been able to circumvent the GIFMIS platform, leaving sufficient room for corruption and kickbacks.
Ministry’s reaction
PREMIUM TIMES contacted the ministry to seek clarifications on the illegal transfers and payments. However, its spokesperson, Rhoda Iliya, declined to speak over the phone and asked the reporter to write an official letter to her. This reporter wrote the letter under the Freedom of Information Act to the ministry. In the letter, dated 30 January 2024, we asked the ministry if the named individuals were members of its staff and why the funds were paid into their private accounts despite the existing regulations.
The ministry responded and called for a meeting to discuss some of the issues raised in the FOI. When this reporter met with the Deputy Director of Accounts, Ayuba Maigari, he said the eight individuals are staff members of the ministry.
Mr Maigari said the ministry had to use accounts of individuals because the ministry is "peculiar" and the GIFMIS platform is not effective enough to allow its smooth operation. According to him, a high turnover of staff at the ministry more or less renders the GIFMIS platform inadequate.
"There was an error; we do not know where the error came from, the description. When we are doing programmes, how do you want us to pay? Do you want us to get consultants to do that?"
Why not pay the vendors directly? To this, the official responded: "to do it that way, you will have to get consultants to rent hall, but these things are like overhead items, they are not capital-intensive."
The ministry noted that the EFCC was investigating its operations, and that some of the issues flagged by this newspaper were part of the investigation. The official conceded that the transfers were clearly against the financial regulations but insisted that the funds were not embezzled.
"To get a perfect system is very difficult. We are only striving towards perfection. The most important thing is for you to know is that all these people are staff of the ministry. Had it been the money is paid into the accounts of someone who is not a staff, using government fund to pay private accounts, I would have said it is fraud, but all these people are staff. The funds are meant for specific assignments, and those assignments are being carried out. The records are there. Government money—you don’t spend it like that. Somebody must initiate, then another person will finalise it," Mr Maigari said.
"The money was spent according to what they were meant for," Mr Maigari stressed during a meeting in his office. "In fact, some of the casual workers do not have bank accounts."
A recent investigation by PREMIUM TIMES shows that several MDAs continue to transfer public funds into the private accounts of individuals, in clear violation of the law. And the government has been reluctant or ineffective in enforcing its own regulations.
