Ex-NSIPA CEO Halima denies involvement in ‘N44bn fraud’, says she was bypassed in financial transactions

Halima Shehu, ex-national coordinator of the National SocialInvestment Programme Agency (NSIPA), has dismissed allegations that shediverted N44 billion of public funds. Shehu, who was appointed in October 2023, was suspended byPresident Bola Tinubu in January 2024. She was investigated by the Economic and Financial CrimesCommission (EFCC) over alleged unauthorised withdrawals from NSIPA accountsinto private and corporate accounts. Speaking in an interview with FactNews, Shehu said she nevermade transfer of funds to personal accounts. “There was no N44 billion. The figures are not even correct.Yes, funds were transferred to commercial banks and to payment serviceproviders but the question Nigerians should be asking is, ‘the transfer of thefunds that happened under Halima Shehu’s supervision, is that the right thingto do?’,” she asked. “Because when you’re working with funds and you’re supposedto deliver to beneficiaries after digitisation, how are you expected to get thefunds to the beneficiaries? Am I going to sit in the comfort zone of my houseand start to call beneficiaries, come and collect? “There was never a transfer of funds by Halima Shehu topersonal accounts.” Shehu said allegations that the sum was recovered from herpersonal accounts were baseless, adding that there is “no structure that allowsthat even in the CBN”. “To think that, overnight, they said in two days that HalimaShehu transferred N44 billion to personal accounts. It sounds absurd,” sheadded. She said reports alleging she confessed to making suchtransfers were fabricated. “I saw a breaking news that Halima said she transferred N44billion to personal account by mistake. What mistake? That’s stupidity. There’sno such thing. They are lies. That never happened,” she said. Shehu also rejected reports that the EFCC discovered N17.8billion in her office. “Even the banks, do they have N17.8 billion cash? Talk lessof Halima Shehu having them in her office,” she said. The ex-NSIPA boss said during her stint in office, shediscovered irregular financial transactions. “I noticed that N14.8 billion had left the agency’s accountwithout due recourse to me as the CEO, without my consent, approval, orknowledge,” she said. “I observed that the misappropriations actually took place,funds left the account without due recourse to me, yet I’m the chief accountingofficer. I was mandated to make sure I know where every naira and every kobogoes to.” She alleged that financial transactions in the agency weredeliberately routed to bypass her, going instead from her superior to hersubordinates. “There was a total bypass in the structure, in the financialstructure of the agency, ever since I was appointed and I was not aware.Transactions didn’t come to me. They come from my boss to my subordinates. Andwho is your boss? Well, my boss is Betta Edu,” Shehu said. Shehu reiterated that she neither misappropriated funds norconfessed to doing so, describing the allegations as “cock and bull stories”.

Read More