This may not be the best of times for the Imo State born Minister of Education (State), Chief Emeka Nwajiuba, as a group, Restore Nigeria Integrity Initiative, RNII, is moving against him over issues related to alleged disbursement of over N178,647,613.9 to seven Federal Government Colleges in the country.
According to information Trumpeta newspapers stumbled into, the group is already mobilizing support to move against the Ministry of Education, where the Government Agency was accused of allegedly spending the money under guise of school feeding between the months of March-June this year when the schools were shut down.
According to Comrade Victor Itsede, in a letter to Amb Splendour Agbenkpolor of the Initiative For Leadership and Economic in Nigeria, Abuja, tagged “Request to Join Us In A Public Action Against The Minister of State For Education, Hon Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba” the RNII front loaded earlier letters written to the Minister on clarification to show cause why public action against him should not be carried out against his Ministry on how the said amount was disbursed to some selected principals and bursars in 7 schools in a part of the country in the month of March-June 2020 when the schools were shut down.
The statement from the group reads
“In view of the above, Restore Nigeria Integrity Initiative a registered citizen based NGO with a mandate to push for integrity in public life while exposing corruption is seeking for clarifications.
By the combined provisions of sections 1; .2; 3(4); 4; 7(1) & (5); 9;14(2)(h); 19(2); 20 of the FOI Act, 2011, among other rights including the provisions of the civil service rule, we want access to information on the questions raised above and there is a statutory obligation on you as a public officer appointed by President Muhammadu Bunari to be the Minister Of State For Education under whose watch over Nl.78,547,613.92 was shared to 7 Federal Government colleges in the months of March-June 2020 as school Feeding which look bizarre to us and necessitated the need for this clarification to show cause why we should not contest this economic and humanitarian sabotage in the law court and resorts to public actions.
. From our investigation, the sum of N178, 647,613.92 was disbursed by your ministry from 11th of March to 7tn June 2020 to seven federal government colleges in this order.
The group who in the letter stated the breakdown and schools all located in the Northern parts of the country quarried why it was only seven schools benefited from the scheme when there are over 140 unity schools in Nigeria.
Grounds for which the group is moving against the Minister are based on the interest in particular locality and if the description of the transaction “school feeding” can be said to be valid and covenant for funds to be release in the months of March-June when schools were still shut down and the government still battling on how to response to the Covid 19 pandemic.
What further prompted the group to tackle Nwajiuba was why he as a South Easterner and from the Southern part of the country would be incharge of a Ministry where amounts of money disbursed to schools in the North and non to the East.
