Halima Shehu, ex-national coordinator of the National Social Investment Programme Agency (NSIPA), has dismissed allegations that she diverted N44 billion of public funds.
Shehu, who was appointed in October 2023, was suspended by President Bola Tinubu in January 2024.
She was investigated by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over alleged unauthorised withdrawals from NSIPA accounts into private and corporate accounts.
Speaking in an interview with FactNews, Shehu said she never made transfer of funds to personal accounts.
“There was no N44 billion. The figures are not even correct. Yes, funds were transferred to commercial banks and to payment service providers but the question Nigerians should be asking is, ‘the transfer of the funds that happened under Halima Shehu’s supervision, is that the right thing to do?’,” she asked.
“Because when you’re working with funds and you’re supposed to deliver to beneficiaries after digitisation, how are you expected to get the funds to the beneficiaries? Am I going to sit in the comfort zone of my house and start to call beneficiaries, come and collect?
“There was never a transfer of funds by Halima Shehu to personal accounts.”
Shehu said allegations that the sum was recovered from her personal accounts were baseless, adding that there is “no structure that allows that even in the CBN”.
“To think that, overnight, they said in two days that Halima Shehu transferred N44 billion to personal accounts. It sounds absurd,” she added.
She said reports alleging she confessed to making such transfers were fabricated.
“I saw a breaking news that Halima said she transferred N44 billion to personal account by mistake. What mistake? That’s stupidity. There’s no such thing. They are lies. That never happened,” she said.
Shehu also rejected reports that the EFCC discovered N17.8 billion in her office.
“Even the banks, do they have N17.8 billion cash? Talk less of Halima Shehu having them in her office,” she said.
The ex-NSIPA boss said during her stint in office, she discovered irregular financial transactions.
“I noticed that N14.8 billion had left the agency’s account without due recourse to me as the CEO, without my consent, approval, or knowledge,” she said.
“I observed that the misappropriations actually took place, funds left the account without due recourse to me, yet I’m the chief accounting officer. I was mandated to make sure I know where every naira and every kobo goes to.”
She alleged that financial transactions in the agency were deliberately routed to bypass her, going instead from her superior to her subordinates.
“There was a total bypass in the structure, in the financial structure of the agency, ever since I was appointed and I was not aware. Transactions didn’t come to me. They come from my boss to my subordinates. And who is your boss? Well, my boss is Betta Edu,” Shehu said.
Shehu reiterated that she neither misappropriated funds nor confessed to doing so, describing the allegations as “cock and bull stories”.
