Betta Edu, Oluwatoyin Madein
By Our Reporter
The Accountant-General of the Federation, AGF, Dr. Oluwatoyin Madein, has denied honouring the N585.198 million payment request by the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Dr Betty Edu.
Recall that the minister in a letter had asked the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation to pay the said amount to the personal account of a certain Oniyelu Bridget Mojisola.
Edu sent a memo to the Accountant-General of the Federation requesting for payment, of the sum of N585,189,500.00 Renewed Hope Grant for Vulnerable Groups for four states
Edu in a statement made available to NATIONAL WAVES, stated that the said N585,198,500.00 was approved, and it is meant for the implementation of Grants to vulnerable groups in Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Ogun, and Lagos states
She said “Akwa Ibom and Cross River were launched in December 2023, Kogi already happened in November, and others will be launched in the coming weeks.
“The general public is invited to note that the Renewed Hope Grant for Vulnerable Groups is one of the social intervention schemes of the federal government, which is being implemented by the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation. Oniyelu Bridget is the Project Accountant for GVG from the Department of Finance and it is Legal in civil service for a staff, the Project accountant to be paid and use same funds legally and retire same with all receipts and evidence after project or Program is completed.
While reacting to the controversy generated by the payment request considered to be illegal, the AGF said she did not honour the request.
According to her, it was not her responsibility to make payments for projects and programmes on behalf of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).
Dr. Madein’s position was contained in a statement by the Director of Press, Mr. Bawa Mokwa of the OAGF, in Abuja
She stated that allocations are released to self-accounting MDAs in line with the budget and such MDAs are 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.
She stated that Betta Edu’s 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 the 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.
