Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2023, Atiku Abubakar has called on the Federal Government to reform the Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation Ministry.
In a statement by his Special Assistant, Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, Atiku said the ministry has become an Automated Teller Machine, ATM, and Point of Sales, POS, for people in power to loot funds.
The former Vice President said the fact that the the current Humanitarian Affairs Minister, Betta Edu and her predecessor, Sadiya Umar Farouq, are being probed over alleged fraud shows that immediate and urgent actions need to be taken to reform the ministry.
He said; “There is a need for the government to reform the humanitarian affairs ministry and other interventionist programmes that had become an ATM and POS for those in power.
“Even during the COVID-19 lockdown, Farouq continued to implement the school feeding programme. She ridiculously claimed that the food would be delivered to the students at home since schools were shut.
“Today, Betta Edu claims that over three million households got N20,000 each during the Yuletide. Sadly, there is no evidence of millions of Nigerians getting such money. This shows that money has just been going into private pockets.
“The scandal that we are contending with is not about Betta Edu, nor about Halima Shehu, or any other person for that matter.
“It is about a problem of systemic corruption through which the APC continues to bleed the treasury, ironically, asphyxiating the p00r and vulnerable segment of the country, all in the name of caring for them.
“The APC has weaponised poverty and hunger to control the minds of the vulnerable masses, and it is even worse that they have devised a method to use poverty as an instrument of official corruption.”