The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has accused the All Progressives Congress (APC) led Federal Government of stealing from the poor in the name of poverty intervention.
ADC in a statement by the National Publicity Secretary Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, said for the fact that findings by the Auditor-General of the Federation (AuGF) that N33.75 billion in cash transfers to 3.29 million households cannot be verified is proof of what Nigerians have long suspected.
It alleged that social investment under President Bola Tinubu has become a racket run for the benefit of officials, not the poor.
“Let us call this what it is. Not mismanagement. Not an oversight. It is an organised racket, which this government has run under the guise of a social intervention programme.
“They are stealing from the poor and telling them to continue to endure hardship,” ADC stated.
The party recalled that at the beginning of the Tinubu administration, N585 million was allegedly wired to a private account under former Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Betta Edu before.
It also alleged that another N44 billion went missing from the National Social Investment Programme Agency under Halima Shehu, before the latest report by the Auditor-General of the Federation that a sum of N33.75 billion cannot be matched to any verified beneficiary.
“This latest report of an unaccounted N33.75 billion intervention fund, buried inside a larger N78 billion fund, and the historical pattern of corruption that has trailed this kind of programme would suggest that this government has found a way to steal from the poor by turning the social intervention programme into a criminal enterprise,” ADC added.
According to the party, instead of addressing the wanton corruption associated with such interventions in the past, the APC-led Federal Government “announced an even bigger package of $1 billion without demonstrating that it has made any effort to ensure greater transparency and accountability.”
The ADC stated that given the familiar history, it doubts that this latest intervention would be implemented, or it would become another racket like the others before it.
“Their twin disastrous policies of fuel subsidy removal and currency devaluation have exploded the population of Nigerians living in extreme poverty and therefore needing cash handouts from the government, which has now become a mere pretext for stealing in the name of the poor.
“This is a government that manufactured hardship with one hand and pocketed the relief with the other,” the party stated.
It demanded a probe into the scheme and publication of the full beneficiary register and their REMITA payment trail.
