- Safiu Kehinde
Kebbi Government has set up a Committee in a to recover the money fraudulently removed from the individual accounts of orphans out of the N2.1 billion funds disbursed by the World Muslim League.
The money which was entrusted in some guardians have been allegedly mismanaged by them through fraudulent activity by shortchanging those under their care.
Addressing newsmen on the development in Birnin Kebbi on Friday, the Commissioner for Religious Affairs, Alhaji Muhammad Sani-Aliyu, said Gov. Nasir Idris, had directed the immediate recovery of the money in full and return it to the rightful owners.
“The governor has high compassion for orphans, he is up to the task, he therefore, charged the committee to do the needful, to ensure thorough investigation.
“We contacted the banks that disbursed the funds but they informed us that the fraudulent acts were perpetrated using Point of Sale (POS) terminals not the conventional banking channels.
“But we are sounding a word of caution, any bank discovered to be involved in the removal of the orphans’ money, government will formally write a letter of complaint to the headquarters of such bank for appropriate action,” he warned.
According to reports, the World Muslim League had, on the 10th of October, disbursed N2.1 billion to 1,849 orphans in the state through bank transfer to cater for their upbringing.
The state government would, however, discover that the money failed to reach the targeted beneficiaries as their guardians siphoned the money.
Meanwhile, Sani-Aliyu vowed that the present administration would not fold its arms to allow some unscrupulous guardians of orphans to cheat the orphans.
“Kebbi Government is immensely appreciative to the World Muslim League for its magnanimity and for disbursing such colossal amount of money to orphans in the state.
“The Nigeria’s Regional Office of the League in Kaduna has been notified about what is happening in Kebbi, and the office has pledged full cooperation to the funds’ recovery efforts.
“The Recovery Committee is headed by my humble self, two other Commissioners, two Special Advisers and two Permanent Secretaries,” the commissioner said.