ICPC uncovers N2.67bn fraud in FG’s school feeding programme

The Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Prof. Bolaji Owasanoye, says the commission has uncovered the diversion of N2.67 billion meant for school feeding programmes in federal colleges to personal accounts.

Owasanoye, who disclosed this in his keynote address at the 2nd National Summit on Diminishing Corruption and Launch of the National Ethics and Integrity Policy at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Monday said the money was diverted to personal accounts during the COVID-19 lockdown.

He added that the commission also discovered the sum of N2.5 billion appropriated by a deceased senior civil servant in the Ministry of Agriculture for himself and cronies.

The ICPC chief listed other assets recovered in the ministry to include 18 buildings, 12 business premises, and 25 plots of land.

Owasanoye disclosed that under the Open Treasury Portal review carried out from January to August this year in 268 Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs), 72 of them had cumulative infractions of N90 million.

He said: “While 33 MDAs tendered explanations that N4.1 billion was transferred to sub-TSA, N4.2 billion paid to individuals had no satisfactory explanations.

“We observed that transfers to sub-TSA were to prevent disbursement from being monitored. Nevertheless, we discovered payments of N2.67 billion to some federal colleges for school during lockdown when the children are not in school, and some of the money ended up in personal accounts. We have commenced investigations into these findings.”