I never transferred N44bn into private accounts, payments followed approved process— says Shehu

Halima Shehu, former national coordinator and chief executive officer of the National Social Investment Programme Agency (NSIPA), says she never transferred N44 billion into private accounts.

On January 2024, President Bola Tinubu suspended Shehu as NSIPA chief over allegations of financial misconduct, and appointed Akindele Egbuwalo in acting capacity.

Shehu wrote to Tinubu, asking for the release of the report of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)’s investigation into the allegations against her.

Speaking on Monday during The Morning Show, an Arise Television programme, Shehu said she reported alleged financial irregularities within the agency to anti-graft agencies before her suspension.

“When the matters were above me, the financial control violations were above me, I called on the EFCC chairman while I was in office,” she said.

“On 21st of December 2023, before my suspension, I handed over a letter to him stating all these violations of financial regulations in the agency. Money was moving out of the CBN account to the destinations where they were moving. There were no hearsays.

“I documented everything and handed it over to him. The letter was addressed to Mr President, and he told me he would escalate it appropriately.”

The former NSIPA boss said she also alerted the EFCC and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) if alleged violations of financial regulations at the agency before she was suspended.

Shehu said she met with the ICPC chairman to report alleged unauthorised signatories added to agency accounts without her approval.

“I thought all of this would be escalated, but to my utter shock, none of them got back to me,” she said.

“I was suspended just 10 weeks after I had escalated these issues. Up until this moment, I haven’t heard anything about the whistleblowing that I did. I thought I was supposed to be honoured for the proactive measures I took. I thought I was supposed to be protected.”

According to her, the alleged N44 billion transferred into personal accounts were actually disbursements to beneficiaries of the federal government’s social intervention programmes.

Shehu noted that the payments followed the established implementation model for the Conditional Cash Transfer programme, which she said she inherited.

Shehu also denied claims that the EFCC recovered any money from her or those close to her.

“The way the programmes are supposed to be implemented is by transferring the programme funds to commercial banks, payment service providers regulated and licensed by the Central Bank of Nigeria, or microfinance banks,” she said.

“On the day my suspension came, the monies had gone into the accounts of the payment service providers, which were existing contractors of the ministry. Their contracts had not expired. I did not contract any one of them.”

Shehu added that her actions were driven by a desire to ensure that funds earmarked for social intervention beneficiaries reached their intended recipients.

“I was just trying to do the right thing because the monies were leaving the account and the beneficiaries were not benefiting. Before I knew it, I was suspended. No one called me to explain any of this,” she added.