The Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission has uncovered yet another massive N3billion massive fraud involving directors and officials of a disbanded government agency.
The Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission has frozen accounts of top directors and senior officials of the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P) because of massive N3 billion fraud.
The N3 billion fraud involves money meant for the payment of participants of the SURE-P Graduate Internship Scheme. However, the money was meant to pay the allowances of 17,500 participants for eight months, which never got to them but was diverted into private pockets. The money was domiciled in the Federal Ministry of Finance for the graduates who complained endlessly without help.
“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.” a source revealed.
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. Its mandate was 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.
However, following the buildup to the 2015 elections, it became a political platform which necessitated the President Muhammadu Buhari led administration to scrap it in November last year.
It has been revealed that many of the top officials instead of using the money for the purposes for which it was allocated, went ahead to use it for personal purposes and acquiring expensive cars and mansions.
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.
According to a Punch report, 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.”
It has been revealed that some of the directors, task force commanders and officials have since fled the country to avoid being arrested and prosecuted. It has also been revealed that a former Chairman of SURE-P, Christopher Kolade resigned because of the corruption and the use of the platform for political purposes by the former president Goodluck Jonathan's administration.
He is quoted as saying: “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.”