Ex-NSIPA Boss Denies Diverting ₦44bn Into Personal Accounts

Former National Coordinator and Chief Executive Officer of the National Social Investment Programme
Agency (NSIPA), Halima Shehu, has strongly denied allegations that she diverted ₦44 billion, insisting no
public funds were transferred to her personal account or those of her family members.
Speaking during an interview on Arise Television on Monday, July 27, 2026, Shehu said she alerted anti-
graft agencies and relevant authorities to alleged financial irregularities within the agency before her
suspension in December 2023.

She claimed she discovered weak financial controls shortly after assuming office and raised concerns
with the then Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Betta Edu, and other officials.
Shehu maintained that investigators never traced any funds to her or members of her family. “I never
transferred ₦44 billion to any personal account.

The EFCC never recovered a penny from my account, my family’s account, or any friend’s account,” she
stated.
She explained that the transactions under scrutiny were legitimate payments to licensed service
providers and financial institutions responsible for disbursing funds to beneficiaries of government social
intervention programmes.

Shehu was suspended by President Bola Tinubu in January 2024 amid a probe into financial activities at
NSIPA.
She described herself as a whistleblower who was punished instead of protected, claiming some
transactions bypassed her approval and were handled outside the agency’s established structure.
She also alleged that over $300 million was drawn from a World Bank-supported programme without
her involvement.

The former NSIPA boss urged President Tinubu to intervene and make public the findings of
investigations into the agency.
“My integrity is my asset. I may have made administrative mistakes, but I am not corrupt and I did not
take funds meant for poor and vulnerable Nigerians,” she said.

By Oyinkansola Shittu

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