NewStats: 3,264,981 , 8,185,267 topics. Date: Friday, 13 June 2025 at 03:57 AM 504s3j

The controversy about the request by the Honourable Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation to the ant General, as widely reported, is only a reflection of the systemic failure in our public service. I will point out a few issues while we await the outcome of the investigation.

Before I proceed, it is evident that the Ministerial Retreat did not deal with serious governance issues. I am confident that no one in the retreat presented the case study of Minister Adenike Grange, who was advised to approve payouts for the end of the year. A sterling career suffered extensive damage. If Minister Edu knew of this case, she would have shown more caution in using her red pen.

From publicly available and unverified reports, the Honourable Minister received a memo from Mr. Thalis Olonite Apalowo, National Program Manager, Grants for Vulnerable Group, to approve a request for cash distribution to vulnerable groups in Kogi State on 6 November 2023. On the same day, the Minister approved.

First issue: the program manager ought not to have written to the Hon. Minister directly. The bulk payment of allowances to staff must have been a tradition in the Ministry before now. The Hon. Minister, due to inexperience, pressure, or greed, fell for the organised scam prevalent in the Ministry since the disastrous President Buhari years.

The next day, 7 November 2023, the Permanent Secretary, Abel Olumuyiwa Enitan, an experienced civil servant (from public records, he has been Permanent Secretary since 2018), minuted the approval to the DFA to "process further as approved above."

Second issue: the Permanent Secretary is the ONLY person in the Ministry who should seek approval from the Minister. Mr Apalowo should have sent the memo to Permanent Secretary Abnitio. He ought to have sent the memo to the internal audit, for audit and compliance, to budget to fund availability and then forward it to the Minister for approval.

The internal audit, if not in cahoot, would have flagged the anomalies like air tickets to Kogi and other issues. Mr Enitan's job is to guide and advise the Hon. Minister. He abdicated responsibility

The Hon. Minister's letter, if true, to the ant General seeking disbursement to private s is the ultimate proof of the failure of the bureaucracy led by Mr. Enitan. My initial questions would be: are these companies contractors of the Ministry? Did they go through a procurement process? Are the payments to the companies total payments, mobilisation payments, or payments based on bank bonds?

Procurement process documents should have accompanied the letter to the ant General indicating the contractual obligations of the Ministry and the approval of the Ministerial Tenders Board. The payments bore the hallmarks of corruption.

Hon. Ministers have no business with payments, procurements, and human resources issues in the Ministry. The Permanent Secretary is the Chief ing Officer of the Ministry and seeks the Minister's approval when incurring expenditures.

The PS is the single point of between the Minister and the bureaucracy. At the same time, the Minister is the point of with superior and external organs of government and the public.

The debacle is a clear indication of a government that has not prioritised respect for rules and the training of its appointees. While not peculiar to this istration, but an atmosphere surrounding this givernment, that appears to reward political appointees for providing conduits for cash-for-patronage seems to be deepening the crisis.

The Head of Service should investigate and, if found guilty, sanction the Permanent Secretary, Mr Enitan, and the National Programs Manager, Mr Apalowo, for clear breaches of civil service procedures.

The IC should conduct a system audit of the Humanitarian Affairs Ministry to uncover the extent of bulk payments to staff s and other irregular payments. If the President is serious about probity this should be done across all MDAs.

The Betta Edu crisis provides a learning opportunity for the government and the bureaucracy.

This saga may be another pointer and confirmation that the state government no be the federal government. The state experience may not be relevant or may even be a disability in running the more sophisticated federal bureaucracy

There are no secrets in the federal government.

Osita Chidoka
08 January 2024

Hmm 🤔

No, it shows that most Nigerians only care about stealing from the system and nobody thinks of what they can do to make it better.

Even those who call others thieves aren't any better...they just don't have their privileges. The black man is evil.

Have they finally betrayed our trust? More investigation should be carried out and justice be served accordingly

With this incidence, I've started to think that Tinubu is corrupt because corruption can't fight corruption except Madam Edu is a pun in this game.



Tinubu, a bad man with good intentions.

No wonder, Buhari kept on borrowing. They were just borrowing to loot unabatedly. The problem we have currently is the youths. Elders in the government knows how to go about the system without being caught but you see these youths of nowadays, they steal and even rob it on your face. If a 38 years old could have audacity to loot like this then where is the so called future for the youths.

Xnx smk

Osita himself was not a saint when he was a minister; so he is just mischievous saying this issue reveals deep systemic issues. Nope...this issue reveals nothing we had not known. Rather, these issues and many to come are telling us that the time to split is now. Nigeria needs to split. Each region should go make or destroy itself. Period.

Exactly my thoughts also. She acted like a rookie. Showing so much inexperience. He hit the nail on the head.

After this Betta Edu go see politics run

I've enjoyed this analysed point of view very until IC surfaced.
IC?
That's the most useless and worst governmental commission I have known ever...
In fact, the chairmen of that commission since inception are supposed to be gathered and jailed for life... Very useless commission wasting national resources..

googlepikins:
This Atiku boy should shut up, him and Atiku could have done worse than Buhari and Thiefnubuu combined

Thats the problem with folks like you who see only for us or against us even when advices are given. The writer showed explicitly what went wrong and corrections to take but no, the messenger must be attacked and his message ignored.

@ post, I knew inexperience played a great role in her downfall. Her PS simply failed her.

Osita own too dey in body. I must confess he was spot on this analysis. This is a complete failure on the system processes going on in the ministry. The indicted honorable minister shouldn't be the only one taking the fall. Others within the various units of the ministry should be thoroughly investigated.

Yoruba adage says "Eniti a ko lole ti o ja ole, Ole ti wa ninu re tele"

Not that I fancy this Osita dude cos be himself wasn’t any better, but that does not invalidate his points.

Its funny how someone wrote a memo that she wants to "loot" millions of Naira
and none of those who saw it raised an alarm.

It is obvious what went wrong.

epainos:
Osita himself was not a saint when he was a minister; so he is just mischievous saying this issue reveals deep systemic issues. Nope...this issue reveals nothing we had not known. Rather, these issues and many to come are telling us that the time to split is now. Nigeria needs to split. Each region should go make or destroy itself. Period.

Stop this wishful thinking. Nigeria will not split.
What keeps this country going is the oil and gas. The only thing that can end this country is when the resources are exhausted.

The day they get exhausted, that will mark the end of this pseudo country. Until then, every citizen will try to steal as much as they can from the system, so nobody should blame Madam Edu. Her problem is that she was caught in the act.

Normally na inexperience plus greed caught up with Betta Edu

You defrauded me



EXERCISE CAUTION WHILE DEALING WITH THIS ACCLAIMED PHONE TRACKER

Giftedhand47:
I track lost or stolen devices at an affordable price
A trial will definitely convince you
me via siggy below

sonature1:


Stop this wishful thinking. Nigeria will not split.
What keeps this country going is the oil and gas. The only thing that can end this country is when the resources are exhausted.

If you aren't born in the 40s to the latest 1985, don't ever quote me again.

Nigerians' problem is not oil and gas...it is the 190X amalgamation. If you are not in the age bracket, shut up...your parents are the ones I can talk with.

The day they get exhausted, that will mark the end of pseudo country. Until then, every citizen will try to steal as much as they can from the system, so nobody should blame Madam Edu. Her problem is that she was caught in the act.

Nigeria will not run out of mineral resources in the next 100 years...and you won't be alive by then. Stop deceiving yourself. And it will keep getting poorer. It is like saying Niger will run out of uranium and will stop raiding them. Like saying SA will run out of gold. Since when? Dey play.

Don't worry. You will understand this point when you are my age. Dont worry.

Good luck!

epainos:

If you aren't born in the 40s to the latest 1985, don't ever quote me again.

Nigerians' problem is not oil and gas...it is the 190X amalgamation. If you are not in the age bracket, shut up...your parents are the ones I can talk with.


Nigeria will not run out of mineral resources in the next 100 years... and you won't be alive by then. Stop deceiving yourself. And it will keep getting poorer. It is like saying Niger will run out of uranium and will stop raiding them. Like saying SA will run out of gold. Since when? Dey play.

Don't worry. You will understand this point when you are my age. Dont worry.

Good luck!

Quote me when Nigeria has split 🥱🥱🥱🥱

I mentioned same thing about the retreat.
It was obviously a waste of time and resources
It is obvious also that APC as a party is not serious about governance. That's why they keep making the same mistakes made by PDP and even worse. These are things they should have learnt to avoid if they took governance seriously.
But APC only take politics seriously then leave governance to chances

sonature1:


Quote me when Nigeria has split 🥱🥱🥱🥱

A signal of a man without a future but he thinks he has one.. won't realise it until it is too late. A signal of a man who does the same thing despite having the same failed results many times. What is the end? Poverty has come to make a home in him.

Good luck!

Mynd44:

Osita Chidoka na mumu from day 1.

Every issue to him is an avenue to settle cheap political scores. Who told you ministers didn't steal during Goodluck and Obj istrations?

epainos:

A signal of a man without a future but he thinks he has one.. won't realise it until it is too late. A signal of a man who does the same thing despite having the same failed results many times. What is the end? Poverty has come to make a home in him.

Good luck!

Oga, this isn't about any future. That's a fact. Millions of people benefit from this dysfunctional country and have turned out to become the wealthiest among us.

Those people would give anything to keep this country one. This is something your emotions wouldn't let you understand because you lack emotional intelligence.

Most religious country with the most corrupt people. Their religion is to cover face and live a hypocritical life.

epainos:
Osita himself was not a saint when he was a minister; so he is just mischievous saying this issue reveals deep systemic issues. Nope...this issue reveals nothing we had not known. Rather, these issues and many to come are telling us that the time to split is now. Nigeria needs to split. Each region should go make or destroy itself. Period.

Even if we split, the resulting nations will be populated by the same Nigerians of today. We will still see the same performance.

Kei144:


Even if we split, the resulting nations will be populated by the same Nigerians of today. We will still see the same performance.

It's better than what you have now. It will surely be better than what is obtainable today under this structure.

googlepikins:
This Atiku boy should shut up, him and Atiku could have done worse than Buhari and Thiefnubuu combined

Yeah but they haven't
Face the coffee in your front

sonature1:
No, it shows that most Nigerians only care about stealing from the system and nobody thinks of what they can do to make it better.

You have said it as it is in the minds of 90% of Nigerians.
Nigerians are not committed to how are they going to make Nigeria better.
Nigerians are more interested in how Nigeria system should make them better.
This is the reason why we are pulling this country backwards.
Unfortunately, the new generation of Nigerians are taking this thinking of milking the national treasury without feeding the system to replenish to greater extent.
Nigerians are the real problem of Nigeria.
God help us