Betta Edu, minister of humanitarian affairs and poverty alleviation, has been accused of approving funds for flight tickets to Kogi State which does not have an airport.
Media reports say N72,374,500 was moved to Kogi State on 6 November 2023 after the minister signed a memo titled “The Disbursement Under the 2023 Grant for Vulnerable Groups Programmes in Kogi State, 2023.”
A breakdown of the payment showed that she 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.
Other monies were budgeted for a similar program in Bayelsa and Imo States on the same day (6 November 2023), five days before the governorship elections in the states.
In total, Sahara Reporters says it has seen documents showing that Edu approved N226,188,500 for the three states.
Meanwhile, Edu’s immediate predecessor, Sadiya Umar-Farouq, is currently being probed by the EFCC for allegedly laundering N37.1 billion during her tenure through a contractor, James Okwete.