Embattled Minister Faces New Trouble As AGF Faults Payments Into Personal Account

The Accountant-General of the Federation (AGF), Dr. Oluwatoyin Madein, has faulted the ‘disbursement’ of N585,189,500.00 into a personal account, adding to the controversies over the conduct of the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Dr Betta Edu.

In a viral document personally signed by Edu and directed to the Office of the AGF, instructed the payment of the funds to the personal account of one Oniyelu Bridget Mojisola.

The document also showed that the payment of the N585.189 million grant, meant for vulnerable groups in Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Ogun and Lagos states, was made into Oniyelu’s account.

But reacting to the leaked document, Rasheed Zubair, Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to the Minister in a statement on Friday, said the payment for the vulnerable group followed due process.

According to Zubair, the payment of the grant to the account of Bridget was because the fellow currently serves as the Project Accountant of Grants for Vulnerable Groups.

In response to the development, the AGF said she did not honour the request of the payment into the personal account of the aide as reported by an aide of Edu.

She said it was not her responsibility to make payments for projects and programmes on behalf of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).

Madein position was contained in a statement on Saturday by the Director of Press, OAGF, Bawa Mokwa.

Mokwa quoted the AGF as saying that allocations were released to self-accounting MDAs in line with the budget and such MDAs were responsible for the implementation of their projects and payments for such projects.

The AGF explained that although her Office received the said request from the ministry, it did not carry out the payment, adding that the ministry was advised on the appropriate steps to take in making such payments in line with the established payment procedure.

“The AGF noted that in such situations, payments are usually processed by the affected Ministries as self-accounting entities and no bulk payment is supposed to be made to an individual’s account in the name of Project Accountant.

“She added that such payment should be sent to the beneficiaries through their verified bank accounts.

“Dr. Madein reiterated her determination to uphold the principles of accountability and transparency in the management of public finances. She advised MDAs to always ensure that the requisite steps are taken in carrying out financial transactions,” the statement said in disputing the narrative on the disbursement into the personal account of the Edu aide.

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