Atiku Abubakar, the former Vice President, has urged President Bola Tinubu to overhaul the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation.
Atiku claimed that the ministry has become a haven for those in power to embezzle funds, referring to it as an ATM and POS.
He highlighted the ongoing investigation into the previous Minister, Sadiya Umar Farouq, for alleged fraud amounting to N37 billion, as evidence that immediate steps are required to revamp the ministry.
This plea was conveyed through a statement issued by Atiku’s Special Assistant, Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu.
The statement reads: “There is a need for the government to reform the humanitarian affairs ministry and other interventionist programmes that had become an ATM and POS for those in power.
“Even during the COVID-19 lockdown, Farouq continued to implement the school feeding programme. She ridiculously claimed that the food would be delivered to the students at home since schools were shut.
“Today, Betta Edu claims that over three million households got N20,000 each during the Yuletide. Sadly, there is no evidence of millions of Nigerians getting such money. This shows that money has just been going into private pockets.
“The scandal that we are contending with is not about Betta Edu, nor about Halima Shehu, or any other person for that matter.
“It is about a problem of systemic corruption through which the APC continues to bleed the treasury, ironically, asphyxiating the poor and vulnerable segment of the country, all in the name of caring for them.
“The APC has weaponised poverty and hunger to control the minds of the vulnerable masses, and it is even worse that they have devised a method to use poverty as an instrument of official corruption.”
