…..As Minister is accused of spending N4m on flight ticket to state without airport
Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Betta Edu who is at the center of fund diversion to private account is also battling allegation of spending N4m as flight ticket to Kogi state.
Kogi state as of today has no airport .
Official documents has revealed she approved funds for flight tickets and airport taxis for members of her team to travel from Abuja to Kogi, a state with no airport, in November last year.
Documents show that Edu approved N200,000 for flight tickets and N20,000 for airport taxi for each of her 13-man team to travel from Abuja to Kogi, while she approved N300,000 for herself, though no amount was approved for airport taxi for her. This makes it a total of N3,160,000 for flight tickets and airport taxis to travel directly to a state without an airport.
The team spent N4,374,500 on flight tickets, airport taxis, daily transport allowance and local running for the period of time spent in Kogi alone but in total, she approved the sum of N226,188,500 million for Kogi, Bayelsa and Imo states through the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation ahead of the November 11, 2023 governorship elections which includes funds disbursed to vulnerable people in the three states.
However, Kogi has no airport and the nearest aerodrome to it is in Akure, the Ondo State capital, a distance which would take over five hours to get to by road, much farther than the distance between Kogi and Abuja by road, which is about three hours. Other airports around Kogi are in Owerri, Enugu and Asaba, Delta State, but they are all farther than Akure from Lokoja.
It is also a publicly known fact that former Governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello, frequently traveled by road to Abuja.
At a workshop on security and business organised for editors last November by the state in Abuja, Bello was asked why the programme didn’t take place in Kogi and he said it was due to the fact that the state has no airport, hence the decision to host the event in the Federal Capital Territory.
Meanwhile, Betta Edu’s imediate predecssor in office, Sadiya Umar Farouq, late Monday morning arrived at the office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to offer clarifications concerning her stewardship.
Mrs Umar-Farouq arrived at the head quarters of the EFCC to honour the invitation by the anti-graft agency to offer clarifications in respect of some issues that the Commission is investigating.
The former minister had earlier indicated her readiness to honour the Commission’s invitation.
“I remain proud to have served my country as a minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria with every sense of responsibility and will defend my actions, stewardship and programmes during my tenure whenever I am called upon to do so,” she was quoted to have said. (Based on reports by Daily Sun and Channels TV)
