The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), has revealed that N30 billion has been recovered in the course of investigations into allegations of fraud in the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation.
The development led to the suspension of the Minister, Betta Edu, as well as the coordinator of the National Social Investment Programme Agency (NSIPA), Halima Shehu.
Making the revelation in the latest edition of ‘EFCC Alert’, the Commission’s Chairman, Mr Ola Olukoyede, said: ““We have laws and regulations guiding our investigations.
“Nigerians will also know that they are already on suspension, and this is based on the investigations we have done, and President Bola Tinubu has proved to Nigerians that he is ready to fight corruption.
“Moreover, concerning this particular case, we have recovered over N30 billion, which is already in the coffers of the Federal Government.
“It takes time to conclude investigations; we started this matter less than six weeks ago. Some cases take years to investigate.
“There are so many angles to it, and we need to follow through with some of the discoveries that we have seen. Nigerians should give us time on this matter; we have professionals on this case, and they need to do things right. There are so many leads here and there.
“As it is now, we are investigating over 50 bank accounts that we have traced money into. That is no child’s play. That’s a big deal. Then you ask about my staff strength.
“And again, we have thousands of other cases that we are working on. Nigerians have seen the impact of what we have done so far, by way of some people being placed on suspension and by way of the recoveries that we have made”.
In the same publication, the chairman also claimed that billions of naira had been recovered from suspects.
“Within 100 days, we have secured close to about 750 convictions.
“Several tens of billions of naira that we have recovered and also millions of dollars that we have recovered.
“Also, we are not just mouthing it, we are practicalising everything that we have promised.
“Again, what we have done differently is also for me to declare my assets upon my assumption of office.
“Like I said, we have reviewed our guidelines for arrest and bail, we have adopted international best practices in the way we carry out our financial surveillance, and quite a number of other things we have done.
“And these have also culminated into (sic) the achievements we have made in the first 100 days we have done in office.”
