By Eric Elezuo

Nigeria’s erstwhile youngest minister, Mrs Betta Edu, has been in the news for the better part of the year 2024 following her alleged involvement in the financial crime.

Today, Betta Edu, a former Commissioner for Health in Cross Rivers State is referred as former Minister in the Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation ministry, less than six months after she was appointed and approved for the position.

Betta Edu’s ascendancy to the top position of a member of the Nigerian Federal Executive Council (FEC), was heralded and greeted with euphoria. Many applauded President Bola Tinubu for showing genuine concern to the clamour to give the young the opportunity to showcase and prove their mettle in governance.

On appointed and portfolio allocated, Betta Edu was everywhere with the energy of the youth that she is, and was practically giving the administration of Tinubu a level of face-lift until disaster struck; she got herself enmeshed in financial misappropriation that got her fired from her position, and opened up can of worms and investigations that are changing the landscape of the nascent Tinubu administration.

Earlier in the year, Edu had declared that “integrity and accountability are our watchword. Under my watch, in the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, no one will embezzle public funds as before.

“The plans to tarnish the image of this administration, my person or the ministry will amount to nothing”, but that was not to be as the minister, who is now suspended and under investigation, was caught in the web of financial impropriety.

Edu reportedly approved funds amounting to N3.16m for flight tickets and airport taxis for herself and her team to travel from Abuja to Kogi State, a state  that does not have an airport.

The internal memo from the National Programme Manager, Grant for Vulnerable Groups, Thalis Apalowo, indicated that seven members of the minister’s advanced team received N1.54m for flights and airport taxis, while the main team, including Edu, received N1.62m for the same purpose.

The leaked memo also disclosed that N3m was allocated for logistics, and the total disbursement for vulnerable groups was N60m.

Meanwhile, the minister’s predecessor, Sadiya Umar-Farouq, is also being investigated for alleged money laundering during her tenure. The total budget for the ministry from 2020 to 2024 is N2.38 trillion.

Edu’s bubble busted when on January 2, 2024, she reportedly suspended the Chief Executive Officer of the National Social Investment Programme Agency (NSIPA), Halima Shehu, for financial misconduct, and replaced almost immediately with Akindele Egbuwalo, the national N-Power programme manager, in acting capacity.

Shehu was specifically accused of diverting over N40 billion from the coffers of NSIPA.

It wasn’t long after that a memo wherein Betta Edu, asked Oluwatoyin Madein, accountant-general of the federation, to transfer N585 million to a private account, began making the rounds, and sparking outrage.

Mrs Edu has therefore, come under criticism from Nigerians for ordering the said transfer of N585.2 million into the private bank account of a civil servant, who is the accountant in charge of grants for Vulnerable Nigerians.

The leaked memo showed that the minister had in December, requested Oluwatoyin Madein, the accountant general of the federation, to transfer the money from the account of the National Social Investment Office to the private account of Bridget Oniyelu, the accountant of a federal government poverty intervention project called Grants for Vulnerable Groups, a project under Edu’s ministry.

The request contravenes various sections of Nigeria’s Financial Regulations 2009 meant to prevent fraud and other forms of corruption in government business.

Edu, however, through her media aide, Rasheed Zubair, insisted that the act is legal in the country’s civil service. She alleged that she was being targeted for her stance against corruption.

But, Chapter Seven, Section 713 of Nigeria’s Financial Regulations 2009 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 added that “Any officer who pays public money into a private account is deemed to have done so with fraudulent intention.”

The Accountant General of the Federation, Oluwatoyin Madein, has since distanced herself from the controversy adding that her agency had advised the ministry of the proper mode of such transfers.

Following public outcry, Tinubu waved the big stick and suspended the minister. Announcing the suspension, presidential spokesperson, Ajuri Ngelale, said the president took the action in line with his avowed commitment to upholding the highest standards of integrity, transparency, and accountability in the management of the commonwealth of Nigerians.

The president also tasked a panel led by the Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Minister of Finance to, among other functions, conduct a comprehensive diagnostic of the financial architecture and framework of the social investment programmes.

Tinubu has also mandated the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to investigate the scandal after which Edu was invited and grilled for hours on end before being released on bail with her passport and that of her predecessor seized.

As a fallout of the scandal, the Tinubu government has suspended all programmes administered by the National Social Investment Programme Agency (NSIPA).

The Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) Senator George Akume said in a statement signed on his behalf by the Director Information, OSGF, Segun Imohiosen.

He said the suspension was further to the ongoing investigation of alleged malfeasance in the management of the agency and its programmes.

He stated that all the four programmes administered by NSIPA, including; N- Power Programme, Conditional Cash Transfer Programme, Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme and Home Grown School Feeding Programme have been suspended for a period of six weeks in the first instance.

TheCable painted a scenario that explained the road to the scandal that rocked the Tinubu administration so soon after assumption of office. The paper wrote:

“Before Halima Shehu was nominated by President Bola Tinubu as CEO of NSIPA, Delu Yakubu, now senior special assistant to the president on humanitarian affairs and poverty alleviation, was picked for the position.

“But there were concerns among some senators and officials in the presidency that Yakubu would not be up to the task. She was then dropped and appointed a presidential aide.

“An insider said Edu was looking to work with Yakubu because she was a lot more comfortable with her.

“The minister expected to work with Yakubu because she was comfortable with her but when Shehu found her way to the position somehow, Edu was not happy,” the source said.

“This did not create a harmonious working environment between both women from the outset.”

“Another wedge between the minister and Shehu had to do with money, the insider said.

“Typically, the minister is a signatory to the NSIPA account but she makes withdrawals without letting the NSIPA head know,” the source said.

“Shehu got angry over that and the only way she thought she could still retain control over her agency was to transfer the remaining balance out of the accounts that Edu had access to.

“She has disclosed to the EFCC the three accounts where she moved the money to.”

“Another insider said some staff in the office of the accountant-general of the federation (AGoF) were made signatories to these accounts, in a bid to ensure that the humanitarian ministry had access to funds when the need arose.”

Born Betta Chimaobim Edu on October 27, 1986, the suspended minister served as the national women leader of the All Progressive Congress. She was Cross River State Commissioner for Health until her resignation in 2022. She was also National Chairman of the Nigeria Health Commissioners Forum.

In 2015, Edu became the youngest person at 28, to be appointed Special Adviser to the Executive Governor of Cross River State Benedict Ayade on Community and Primary Healthcare.

In 2020, she became chairman of the Cross River State COVID-19 Taskforce. In August that year, she was appointed National Chairman of the Nigeria Health Commissioners Forum.

Edu is a Fellow of the Royal School of Public Health in and the African Institute of Public Health Professionals.

Betta Edu became the youngest national woman leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in March 2022.

In July 2023, she bagged the Award of Excellence in Leadership for gender inclusion and women empowerment, in recognition of her commitment to championing the cause of empowering women, children, and other vulnerable groups in Nigeria.

Stakeholders admit that she earned her appointment to the federal cabinet, given the level of experience that trails her. They also agree that she proved within the short period she served before the financial impropriety scandal that subsumed her reared its head.

While the case of Betta Edu is still undergoing investigation, it is believed that the outcome will determine the path youth and women appointment with take in future. It is also on record that most youth organizations, including the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) have dissociated themselves from her.

Nigerians await with baited eyelids the eventual outcome after investigations have been concluded.