The Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission, EFCC, has declared that it is not investigating the Vice President,
Yemi Osinbajo and the National Social Investment Programme, N-SIP.
EFCC insisted that at no time did
its spokesperson, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, made any reference to N-SIP as a
programme or accused those who superintend it of corruption.
In a statement by its
spokesperson, Wilson Uwujaren, the anti-graft agency cautioned against reports,
which could project a false indictment and incite Osinbajo against its
Chairman, Mr. Ibrahim Magu.
The statement reads: “The
attention of the EFCC has been drawn to a report captioned, “There is
corruption in N-SIP programme- Magu”, which appeared in a newspaper on
Wednesday September 25, 2019 and a few other newspapers, in which the acting
Chairman of the Commission, Ibrahim Magu was quoted as saying that there is corruption
in the National Social Investment Programme and the Anchor Borrower’s
Programme.
“The papers claim that Magu, who
spoke through the Spokesperson of the agency, Wilson Uwujaren at the 15th Anti-
Corruption Situation Room organised by the Human and Environmental Development
Agenda in Kaduna on Tuesday September 24, 2019, asked the civil society
organizations “to investigate the N-SIP”.
“The commission wishes to
disclaim the reports as false and a mischievous twist of the goodwill message
presented by Mr. Uwujaren, on corruption and peace building in conflict
communities.
“In the presentation, the EFCC
spokesperson observed that the agency had received complaints in some zones
regarding the social investment programmes, citing an example in Gombe where
the Commission investigated a case in the Anchor Borrower’s Scheme in which
sand was bagged and passed off as fertilizer.
“He, therefore, warned that for
the crises in these conflict zones not to degenerate, civil society
organisations should play more active roles in monitoring the programmes to
ensure that their benefits get to the people for which they are intended.
“At no time in the presentation
did Mr Uwujaren mention the N-SIP as a programme nor did he accuse those who
superintend it of corruption. The specific case mentioned, the Anchor
Borrower’s scheme, is not part of the N-SIP being supervised by the office of
the Vice President.
“This clarification becomes
necessary to correct the wrong impression of a verdict of corruption on N-SIP
by the EFCC which the purveyors of the false reports obviously want to create.”
EFCC added: “All over the world,
one of the core competencies of civil society organizations is project
monitoring. Calling on Nigerian civil societies to monitor social intervention
programmes, was not a call to ”investigation” as no one had been indicted.
Investigation itself is not the job of civil society organisations.
“The EFCC chairman recognizes the
unprecedented impact of of the N-SIP intervention in not only lifting the poor
out of poverty but also its potential for reconciling feuding communities
across the country.
“It is, therefore, shocking to
read the unfounded insinuation of the reporters, aimed only at fanning the
embers of disaffection that only exist in their imagination.
“The sensational attempt to
project a false indictment, and incite the Vice President against the person of
the Chairman of the EFCC, is therefore condemnable.”
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