Former National Coordinator and Chief Executive Officer of the National Social Investment Programme Agency (NSIPA), Halima Shehu, has broken her silence over the controversial ₦44 billion fraud allegation linked to the agency, insisting that rather than diverting public funds, she was the official who raised the alarm over alleged financial irregularities.
Shehu, who was suspended from office in early 2024 following allegations of financial impropriety, has maintained that she never transferred any part of the disputed funds into her personal account or to accounts belonging to her relatives or associates.
Speaking during an interview with ARISE News, the former NSIPA boss said she provided the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) with documents, transaction records and other evidence she believes should establish her innocence.
“I gave the EFCC documents and evidence. The facts speak for themselves,” Shehu said.
According to her, the records submitted to investigators included details of financial transactions and alleged breaches of established procedures involving the Office of the Accountant-General and the supervising ministry.
Shehu specifically alleged that approximately ₦3 billion in outstanding COVID-19 intervention funds was transferred into 11 accounts without her authorisation, consent or approval.
She insisted that she reported the alleged irregularities to the EFCC rather than concealing them, arguing that her subsequent treatment amounted to punishment for raising concerns about the management of public funds.
“I reported all of this to the EFCC, yet instead of being commended for speaking up, I faced reprisal,” she said.
Shehu said she had raised concerns about financial controls shortly after assuming leadership of NSIPA and claimed that she contacted anti-corruption authorities before her suspension.
She reportedly assumed office as NSIPA National Coordinator in October 2023 and served for less than four months before her suspension.
The former coordinator has now taken her campaign for exoneration directly to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, asking the President to direct the EFCC to publicly release the outcome of its investigation.
The request has become particularly significant because, despite the intense publicity surrounding the allegations against her in 2024, the EFCC has not publicly released a final report establishing the outcome of its investigation into Shehu.
Shehu argues that publication of the report would allow Nigerians to determine what investigators actually discovered and whether the allegations against her were supported by evidence.
She has also complained about the personal consequences of the controversy, saying the allegations inflicted serious reputational, emotional and financial damage on her and her family.
Her latest statements consequently shift attention back to the unanswered questions surrounding the NSIPA investigation: what exactly happened to the disputed funds, who authorised the transactions under scrutiny, and what conclusions did anti-corruption investigators ultimately reach?
For now, Shehu's account remains her defence against the allegations rather than a final determination of the matter.
What is clear, however, is that she is demanding that the evidence collected by investigators — and the EFCC's conclusions — be placed before the Nigerian public.
Until that happens, the controversy surrounding the alleged ₦44 billion NSIPA transactions is unlikely to disappear.
For Shehu, the central question is no longer simply whether she was investigated. It is whether someone who claims she alerted authorities to financial irregularities ultimately became the target of the very scandal she says she tried to expose.
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