People’s Forum calls for investigation into alleged spending of over N3 Billion in Northeast, Northwest Nigeria

People’s Forum calls for investigation into alleged spending of over N3 Billion in Northeast, Northwest Nigeria

By: Our Reporter

Investigations by the International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR) had revealed a breach of procurement laws by the Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution (IPCR) in their spending of N3.07 Billion in the two geopolitical zones of northeast and northwest Nigeria.

IPCR is a Federal Government’s institute under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and saddled with the responsibility of preventing, mitigating and resolving conflicts in the regions across the country.

Reacting to the huge sum of money spent by the Institute to restore peace in the Northeast, a stakeholder and member of Borno-Yobe Peoples Forum, Alhaji Abba Kaka said the people of Borno are neither aware of the presence of IPCR nor any of their interventions.

Alhaji Kaka made this known during an anti-corruption radio program, PUBLIC CONSCIENCE on RADIO, produced by the Progressive Impact Organization for Community Development in Abuja.

While expressing shock over the alleged amount of money spent by the institute, he further revealed that even the immediate past Chairman of Governing Council of the Institute, Senator Muhammed Abba-Aji was surprised upon discovering the sum of money the institute claimed to have spent on the region.

He called on the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) and Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) to swiftly probe the expenditures by the institute in the Northeast.

He added that Senator Aji, who was disturbed by development, had already reached out to the current Director-General of the IPCR to brief the Northeast Governor’s Forum on the allegations.

His words: “As a stakeholder from Borno State, I am just hearing that N3.07 Billion was spent on peacebuilding in the Northeast for the first time, I am not aware of their presence neither is the Borno-Yobe People Forum which I belong to.

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“Last night, I called the former Chairman Governing Council of the Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution to read the story, he called me back that and said he is not even aware of himself, he has even asked the current Director-General of the institute to come and brief the Northeast Governor’s forum. He was the chairman from early 2018 to December 2020, they didn’t have a kobo as far as he is aware, so he was surprised and was absolutely dumbfounded.”

Reacting to breach of procurement laws in the contracts awarded by the institute, Alhaji Kaka lamented that the prevalence of corruption in the public service through contracts award became possible due to the connivance of public servants and companies involved.

While urging the anti-graft agencies to investigate the monies IPCR spent on peacebuilding in the Northeast, he hailed ICIR and PRIMORG for exposing such reports to the general public and the government and called on Non-Governmental Organizations and citizens not to relent in demanding accountability.

“We are calling on the EFCC and ICPC to kindly investigate this matter and find out what really happened to the money. This is just one agency of the government, there are several such things happening,” Alhaji Kaka stressed.

Earlier, ICIR said the rationale behind the investigation was to evaluate the monies spent on the Northeast and Northwest Nigeria given the fact that killings, kidnappings and other forms of insecurity persist in the region despite over N3 billion spent in the two geo-political zones.

ICIR findings reveal that killings in the Northeast and Northwest, where most of the funds were spent, rose from 2,773 deaths in 2017 to 6,401 in 2020, which raised questions about the budget performance of the institute.

People’s Forum calls for investigation into alleged spending of over N3 Billion in Northeast, Northwest Nigeria