Betta Edu Approves Funds for Flight Tickets, Airport Taxis For Staff To Kogi

The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Betta Edu, approved funds for flight tickets and airport taxis for her ministry’s staff to Kogi State.

Naija News reports that the minister gave the approval in a leaked internal memo dated November 6, 2023, which has now gone viral.

The memo issued by the national programme manager, requesting the total sum of N72,374,500, was titled: ‘The Disbursement Under the 2023 Grant for Vulnerable Groups Programmes in Kogi State, 2023’, and was approved by the minister.

In the memo, the sum is appropriated for the minister’s “advanced team” to travel by air for an “event” in Kogi state, which has no airport.

In the memo, each of the minister’s “advanced team” members, including aides, received the sum of N200,000 for flight tickets, N20,000 for airport taxi, and local running expenses and DTA depending on grade level totalling N72,374,500.

Also in the memo, the sum of N300,000 was earmarked for the minister’s air ticket to the North Central State.

Naija News reports that this development is the latest in a series of controversies that have dogged the minister, who is now under a probe following a directive from President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

Recall that Edu has been under fire after a memo surfaced wherein she asked the Accountant-General of the Federation, Oluwatoyin Madein, to transfer the sum of N585 million to a private account.

The instruction for the payment is contained in a leaked letter dated December 20, 2023.

In the letter signed by the minister and titled: “Mandate for Payment of Grant for Vulnerable Groups in Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Lagos and Ogun States Respectively”, Edu requested the accountant-general to transfer the aforementioned sum to the UBA account of one Oniyelu Bridget Mojisola.