ICPC Chairman, Mr. Ekpo NtaThe
Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission has
begun a probe into the activities of directors and senior officials of
the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme.
It was learnt that the ICPC had frozen the accounts of some of the officials while some vehicles had been seized from them.
SURE-P
was set up by the government of former President Goodluck Jonathan in
February 2012 after nationwide protests followed the hike in the prices
of petroleum products.
The programme was scrapped by President Muhammadu Buhari in November last year.
The
SURE-P was mandated to convert saved fuel subsidy money to jobs, roads
and other people-oriented programmes but became political during the
build-up to the 2015 elections.
A source in the ICPC told our
correspondent on Wednesday that the probe started after the commission
received information that huge funds were embezzled by the officials.
The
source added, “We have frozen the bank accounts of some of the
officials while we have started seizing some vehicles from them. Our
plan is to seize about 200. Presently, we have seized about 30.”
Our correspondent, who visited the ICPC on Wednesday, counted about 34 vehicles parked on the premises of the commission.
Some of the vehicles included Sport Utility Vehicles, Hilux vans, salon cars and ambulances.
Our
correspondent learnt that the probe was in connection with a N3bn fraud
allegedly involving the Federal Ministry of Finance and the SURE-P
Graduate Internship Scheme.
The money, it was learnt, was meant for the payment of the participants.
It was gathered that the money was meant to pay the allowances of 17,500 participants for eight months, which never got to them.
The SURE-P GIS is a component of the SURE-P domiciled in the Federal Ministry of Finance.
The
immediate past Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Finance, Mrs.
Anastasia Nwobiala, is already in court over the Nigeria Immigration
recruitment scam, which led to the death of about 20 graduate
applicants.
Also, about N4.9bn was said to have been extorted
from 51,000 applicants, recruited as Federal Task Force officers for the
protection of the SURE-P/Federal Road Maintenance Agency projects
during the build-up to the last elections.
The aggrieved
employees, in a petition, said they were forced to purchase the FTF
forms, which were supposed to be free at the rate N30,000 each despite
their impoverished situation, only to be employed, used and abandoned.
The
petition reads in part, “We wish to cry out and seek for your urgent
help over the fraudulent extortion from us and dehumanisation of our
lives under the SURE-P/FERMA employment programme, named Federal Task
Force by the above-listed names and other officers (Directors) on the
following pretences and tricks.
“We were recruited and employed
for the past three years without any training allowances; no salary and
other allowances were paid to us.
“We were mandated to pay for the Presidency SURE-P/FERMA Task Force forms.
“We bought the forms with inscription ‘NOT FOR SALE’ boldly written on it at an average amount of N30,000 each.”
Some of the task force commanders have since fled the country.
A
former Chairman of SURE-P, Christopher Kolade, had said last year that
he resigned his position in 2013 because its operations were becoming
tainted with corruption and politics, thereby losing its credibility.
He
said some officials of the administration of former President Goodluck
Jonathan were practising “something that was lower than the
transparency” expected of an interventionist agency like SURE-P.
He
had stated, “When I discovered that there were individuals in the
system that were practising something that was lower than the
transparency that we went in with, I raised the issues; and I discovered
that political affiliations and things made this difficult.”
The former SURE-P boss cited an instance when the agency decided to employ 5,000 youths from every state of the federation.
According
to him, when it commenced, he informed the Presidency that the
arrangement it adopted was not acceptable but he was overruled.
When contacted, the spokesperson for the ICPC, Mrs. Rasheedat Okoduwa, said she could not comment on the matter.