By Adoyi M. Aba Abuja
National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has debunked the allegations by the Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Emergency and Disaster Preparedness and another member that the Agency had spent N13 billion since the new Director-General, Mustapha Yunusa Maihaja, assumed offi ce. Th is was contained in a statement issued yesterday in Abuja by the Agency’s Head of Media and Public Relations, Sani Datti. It noted that contrary to the allegations, the new leadership of the Agency inherited only N4.6 million which was what was in its coff ers. It, therefore, stated that the allegations were without facts whatsoever, and were, therefore, “fraudulent, malicious and exist only in the imagination of its makers.”
Th e statement read in part: “For the record, the Agency is constrained to inform the public that on the assumption of offi ce of the new Director-General, only the sum of N4.6 million was in the Account of the Agency to cater, among other things, for the multitude of problems, including 1.8 million Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the North-east. “Th e problem was compounded by a report from Humanitarian Actors that due to the scaling down of funding by the Donor Agencies, their activities in North-east will also necessary be scaled down. Furthermore, it was reported that there was apprehension of eminent hunger and famine. Faced with this staggering reality and paucity of funds at that time, coupled with the need to act decisively, the Director-General was forced to urgently raise the issue with the Acting President who magnanimously approved the release of 30,905 metric tonnes of assorted food items from the government’s Strategic Reserve for immediate distribution to the aff ected communities.
“Acting President Yemi Osinbajo kicked off the programme on June 8, 2017, tagged “Emergency Food Intervention In North-east,” and it must be stressed that the only fund released to the agency was N829 million for distribution, logistics, and security and associated costs; out of this sum, only about the sum of N200 million have been expended so far.” “It was further alleged the DG was invited three times by the Committee to explain how he expended the “alleged N13 billion” and he refused to honour the invitation on each occasion. “Th is, too, was also a fabrication and blatant misrepresentation of facts. From all indications, this again was meant to portray the DG in bad light and cause disaff ection between the members of the National Assembly and the Agency, thereby jeopardising the mutual and benefi cial working relationship developed overtimes.” “Th e entire publication, from all intent and purposes, is intended to cause confusion, distrust and mislead the public. It is self-serving and politically motivated. From all indication the publications may not have been genuinely authorised and same should be discarded.”’
