In addition to placing 50 bank accounts under investigation in the ongoing investigation of the suspended Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Betta Edu, and the former chief executive officer of the now suspended National Social Investment Programme Authority (NSIPA), Halima Shehu, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Chairman, Ola Olukoyede, reports that N30 billion has been recovered for the Federal Government thus far.
According to Leadership, the head of the anti-graft agency revealed this during a speech at the commission’s monthly e-magazine, EFCCAler, in March.
Ola Olukoyede stated, “We have laws and regulations guiding our investigations. Nigerians will also know that they are already on suspension and this is based on the investigations we have done, and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has proved to Nigerians that he is ready to fight corruption. Moreover, with respect to this particular case, we have recovered over N30 billion, which is already in the coffers of the Federal Government.
It takes time to conclude investigations; we started this matter less than six weeks ago. There are cases that take years to investigate. There are so many angles to it. And we need to follow through with some of the discoveries that we have seen. Nigerians should give us time on this matter; we have professionals on this case and they need to do things right. There are so many leads here and there.
As it is now, we are investigating over 50 bank accounts that we have traced money into. That is no child’s play. That’s a big deal. Then you ask about my staff strength. And again, we have thousands of other cases that we are working on.
Nigerians have seen the impact of what we have done so far, by way of some people being placed on suspension and by way of the recoveries that we have made. You have seen that the programme itself has been suspended.
We are exploring so many discoveries that we have stumbled upon in our investigation. If it is about seeing people in jail, well let them wait, everything has a process to follow. So Nigerians should wait and give us the benefit of the doubt.”
President Bola Tinubu dismissed Shehu and Edu around three months ago due to suspected financial misconduct. The President also put a halt to the Social Investment Program and then requested that the EFCC take up the investigation and look into the embattled officials as well as anybody else who may have been implicated.
