The Director of Conflict Research Network West Africa (CORN) Dr. Tarila Marclint Ebiede has called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to go beyond the suspension of the former minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Betta Edu.
The former minister has been under scrutiny over the alleged diversion of funds meant for humanitarian services to some states into a private account.
The minister has, however, been suspended while an investigation into the alleged fraudulent activity is ongoing.
Following the incident, many groups have continued to call for her prosecution but the CORN director, Ebiede, wants President Tinubu to go beyond the suspension of the former Minister.
Ebiede, in a statement made available to OsunDailyNG, advised Tinubu to completely overhaul Nigeria’s social protection architecture.
In the statement issued on Wednesday, he commended the President for promptly suspending the Minister, recalling that the group had warned him to be vigilant on his social protection programmes, which are at risk of being hijacked by politicians.
He urged Tinubu to digitize the cash transfer programmes and strengthen accountability mechanisms in all social protection programmes being implemented by the federal government and its agencies.
He also called on international development partners and the private sector to commit to strengthening social protection institutions in Nigeria by focusing on supporting state institutions with social protection mandates to deliver to the most vulnerable in the country.
“The allegations against the suspended Minister for Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation validate the findings and arguments made by researchers at CORN’s Conference on Social Protection in Fragile and Conflict-affected societies in Nigeria.
“The need for effective, efficient, and transparent management of resources allocated to the Ministry to achieve its mandate can not be overemphasized.
“CORN wish to remind the President, international development partners and the Nigerian civil society that one of the key findings from research presented at its November 2023 Conference on Social Protection in Fragile and Conflict Affected Societies in Nigeria was the political capture and lack of transparency in the implementation of Nigeria’s social protection programmes, including the national conditional cash transfer, palliatives and other financial support provided by the government”.
