The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has denied
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.”
