No N4.6bn missing, stolen under my watch

The Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, has declared that no money was missing or stolen under his watch between September and December 2019.

Fashola denied reports that he supervised the illegal payment of N4.6bn into private accounts when he served as Minister of Power, Works and Housing.

An online report (not The PUNCH) had stated that Fashola’s ministry paid over N4.6bn into personal accounts of directors and staff in four months, stressing that this was in clear violation of extant law.

The report claimed that between September and December 2019, the N4.6bn was illegally paid into the private accounts of some directors and employees of the then Ministry of Power, Works and Housing.

But in reaction to the report, the works minister declared, “In all, no money was stolen or is missing. There is no smoking gun to criminalise Fashola.”

In his reaction, which he personally signed and was made available to our correspondent in Abuja on Monday, the minister explained that the Federal Government in 2007 initiated a payment platform called the Integrated Personnel Payment and Information System.

He argued that the current administration had been engaging all sectors of government to fully migrate to the IPPIS platform.

Fashola said, “What has happened is that not all government officials who, from time to time, needed to be paid for approved expenses were registered on the platform.