House Of Reps. Reveals That Vice President Osinbajo Is Not Under Any Form Of Investigation For Looting The School Feeding Programme Funds

The House of Representatives Committee on Public Accounts, has said that it is not investigating the Office of the Vice President, or the person of Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, as erroneously insinuated in some sections of the Media,The Chairman, House Committee on Public Accounts, Hon. Wole Oke, gave the clarification while addressing the Permanent Secretary of Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Olusola Idowu.Oke explained that the ongoing investigation is aimed at getting documentary evidences of the School Feeding Procurement under the National Social Investment Programme, NSIP, carried out by Federal Ministry of Budget and National Planning.Since its implementation in 2016, until October 2019, the SIP was domicilled in the Office of the Vice President, with Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, as Chairman of the Steering Committee, that oversees the National Social Investment Office.The NSIP provides standard delivery mechanisms, with objectivity, collaboration, synergy, transparency, efficiency, and pro-active monitoring in mind. To assure of close collaboration and impact, focal persons from each State were nominated by the Governors, to supervise the State’s activities in relation to each of the four programmes.The Office of the Vice President has never been involved in financial transactions or the disbursement of funds for the SIPs, they said.The Ministry of Budget and National Planning, is in charge of all matters regarding financing, budgeting, procurement, and disbursement of funds allocated and released for the NSIPs, reportedly.His words: “By our records, the Office of the Vice President is responsible for policy formulation and monitoring of the National Social Investment Programme.“Issues bothering on procurement were handled by the Ministry of Budget and National Planning, which has now been merged with the Ministry of Finance.“We have it on record that the Ministry of Budget and National Planning handled all issues of procurement from 2016 to September 2019, when the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs was created.“Our request is for the Ministry of Budget and National Planning to make available all relevant procurement records for the various items under the NSIP. Our investigation has nothing to do with the Office of the Vice President, but the Ministry.