The alleged corruption emanating from the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation has escalated as a leaked memo seen by Ripples Nigeria showed that the embattled Minister in the ministry, Betta Edu approved funds for flight tickets and airport taxis for the ministry’s staff to Kogi State which bizarrely has no airport.
The memo dated November 6, 2023 issued by the national programme manager, requested the total sum of N72,374,500, under the memo titled: ‘The Disbursement Under the 2023 Grant for Vulnerable Groups Programmes in Kogi State, 2023’, and was approved by the minister.
In the memo, the sum is appropriated for the minister’s “advanced team” to travel by air for an “event” in Kogi. It included the sum of N60m as disbursement of N20,000 to 3,000 beneficiaries, N3m as logistics for disbursement, N2.515m as taxi fare and flight ticket and other expenses including Media and Publicity, security, logistics and rentage of chairs, canopies, banners and Public Address System (PAS) gulped N4.7m totaling N72,374,500.
