IDP fund: There ‘ll be no cover-up, says Saraki

Senate President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, has said there will be no cover-up in investigation of funds allocated to alleviated the plight of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs)in the North East.
The Senate President said this when he inaugurated an Ad-hoc Committee to investigate utilisation of the funds.
Speaking at the event, Saraki urged the Senator Shehu Sani-led panel to ensure that there would be no cover-up in the investigation.
“The whole world is watching. We must ensure that there are no cover-ups as this is the first committee of its kind that has been inaugurated to embark on this task.”
“The work that this committee will be doing will impact the lives of the 4.5million families in the North East who are in dire need of relief, rehabilitation and other forms of assistance.
“The recommendations you would submit from the investigation will help us ascertain how much has been spent in our response to this crisis and will also help us improve our coordination efforts so that the international community will have confidence in us.”
Senator Sani acknowledged that with international partners scaling up their donations to the North East, it was important to determine how funds allocated to the region were being spent.
He declared that government agencies that have been given the responsibility to provide assistance to the people of the North East have engaged in the exploitation of the vulnerable people of the region.
“It is alleged that billions of Naira and countless trucks of grains meant for the IDPs have been misappropriated and diverted,” Sani said, “This has been happening while according to UNICEF, an estimated 400,000 children under the age of 5 will suffer from severe acute malnutrition and more than 4 million people are facing food shortages.”
“It is very alarming that the UNHCR has put Nigeria at Level 3, being the highest level of humanitarian emergency in the world.
At a time when our gallant troops are winning the war on terror, some people are choosing to engage in corrupt practices and self-enrichment. This is sabotage bordering on treason. This is blood money”, he said. Another member of the Ad-hoc Committee, Senator Ben Murray Bruce, reassured the Nigerian people that the committee would maintain the highest standards while undertaking its assignment.