Nigeria: The N6 Billion REA Scam

editorial

With the arraignment last week of persons indicted on the alleged N6billion Rural Electrification Agency (REA) scam, Nigerians may assume that their yearning to obtain full details of all the facts of the matter will soon be gratified. Arraigned at the Federal High Court, Abuja, on a 157-count charge of "criminal breach of trust" were Nicholas Ugbane, Chairman, Senate Committee on Power and Steel; Ndudi Elumelu, Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Power; Mohammed Jibo, Elumelu's deputy; Paulinus Igwe, Chairman, House Committee on Rural Development; Samuel Gekpe, Managing Director of Rural Electrification Agency; Abdulahi Aliyu, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Power; and a number of others.

The key issue here is the grave allegation that the Senate and House Committees on Power had surreptitiously inserted N6 billion into the budget of the Ministry of Power without the Presidency being aware of it. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), which investigated the case, is also alleging that the accused persons had, with undue haste, disbursed the said monies even though the contracts were yet to be executed.

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