ICPC Arrests Two FG Offcials Over N68m Fraud

The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) says it has arrested two officials over alleged N68 million fraud in the Federal Government’s Social Investment Programme (SIP).
Spokesperson of the commission, Mrs Rasheedat Okoduwa, disclosed this in a statement, yesterday.
According to her, the money was meant for the payment of cooks under the SIP’s National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme (NHGSFG) in Kogi.
Odowuwa identified the suspects as Adoga Ibrahim, who was until May, the Focal Person of NHGSFG in Kogi, and Khadijat Karibo, who currently serves as the state’s Programme Manager.
She said the arrest was the outcome of a recently launched collaboration between the National Social Investment Office (NSIO) and ICPC.
Okoduwa said: “A petition alleging that the erstwhile State Focal Person and the Programme Manager had connived and diverted large sums of money meant for payments to cooks in the national school feeding programme in Kogi State was received by ICPC.
“The petition alleged that the duo had perpetrated “unlawful and unethical deductions” from the accounts of cooks by the use of letters purportedly signed by them.
“The petition said the letters conveyed their consent that “a blanket and unspecified amount be moved to 10 different business accounts from the cooks’ accounts for sundry aggregated commodity supplies”.
She said the petition further alleged that the massive fraudulent actions were pulled off by the officials acting in concert with some banks in the state.
Preliminary findings from ICPC investigations, according to her, indicate that for the programme to aggregate food items, the request must come from a state governor.
She said the governor’s request must clearly state the names and details of suppliers to the national coordinator of the NHGSFP for approval.