SIPs’ Implementation: FG Warns Saboteurs, Threatens Sanctions
- No indictment on monarchs – NSIO
BY COBHAM NSA, ABUJA – The Federal Government has vowed to prosecute saboteurs of its Social Intervention Programmes (SIPs), insisting that there will be no hiding place for fifth columnists seeking to derail the programmes.
Special Adviser to the President on Social Investments, Mrs Maryam Uwais, said the National Social Investment Office (NSIO), is already working with relevant security agencies to ensure those found culpable are arrested and prosecuted.
Mrs Uwais said government will not relent in tracking down and prosecuting those bent on disrupting the SIPs by exploiting beneficiaries for personal gains.
According to her, conscious efforts have also been made towards mainstreaming the principles of transparency, accountability and probity in the implementation of the SIPs.
In a statement released on Sunday, the Presidential Aide, who spoke at the 13th anti-corruption agenda for the 9th National Assembly in Abuja, condemned those seeking to sensationalize untruths to discredit the efforts by the current administration to lift Nigeria’s poorer citizens out of poverty.
She said aside field reports from independent monitors and volunteers; the programme encourages and welcomes feedbacks from members of the public, on acts of infraction and other challenges that can assist government to achieve better results in the implementation of the Social Safety Net Programmes.
The federal government’s tough stand is coming on the heels of media reports that Mrs Uwais has fingered some royal fathers of collecting bribes from beneficiaries of the SIPs.
Denying claims that Mrs Uwais mentioned monarchs or traditional rulers among those involved in demanding kickbacks from SIPs’ beneficiaries in rural areas, the statement said her comments at the event, organised by a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), Human and Environmental Development Agenda, were based on the outcome of investigations triggered by an individual in the audience, at a similar event held earlier.
The statement explained that the Presidential aide was reacting to complaints by some beneficiaries with allegations of being short-changed by some community leaders in Osun State.
Signed by the Communications Manager, NSIO, Justice Bibiye, the statement said; “At a similar event held sometime ago, a young man had publicly reported that some beneficiaries were being shortchanged in his community, so I promised to have it investigated. This investigation was carried out by ANEEJ, the principal monitor of disbursements of the Abacha restituted funds. The report of the investigation revealed that the disclosures were essentially factual.
“Some community leaders and LGA officials were in the habit of demanding levies after payment is concluded in the communities. So we resolved to undertake measures to counter those adverse practices in the field.
“Indeed, we are planning an event in the communities to engage the beneficiaries with a view to building their confidence, so they can refuse to accede to such demands”
“Those who understand the leadership structure in our communities would know that monarchs are not the only set of persons classified as community leaders. Our Royal Fathers are usually supported by others in the hierarchy to superintend over community affairs.”
The statement, which urged members of the public to disregard such reports, described it as the height of sensationalism and a total misrepresentation of facts, adding; “It then becomes very disturbing and somewhat mischievous for a reporter to single out monarchs from a comment that focused generally on community leaders.”
Mrs Uwais however charged the media to shun sensationalism while upholding the “lofty principles of truth, fairness, objectivity and accuracy” in their reportage of events, especially those that are of national concern.
