Some beneficiaries of the Federal Government’s economic empowerment programme, NG-CARES in Edo State, are accusing Edojobs, the state government’s agency, charged with its implementation, of short-changing them. They claimed that instead of the approved ₦500, 000 grant expected, they were given between ₦50 and ₦100, 000, especially having undergone all the application processes.
Some of the aggrieved beneficiaries who spoke to journalists on condition of anonymity, accused Edojobs of embezzling a substantial amount of the funds, an allegation refuted by the head of the agency.
Though the Head, Monitoring & Evaluation, (M.E) Evaluation Results Area 3, Edo Cares, Joseph Ogunleye, did not give a specific figure of how much was received by the agency, he said instead of the touted ₦5bn, what came was not up to ₦500 million.
Some of the beneficiaries who do not want to be mentioned accused Edojobs, one of the coordinating agencies of the programmes of embezzling part of the ₦5 billion meant to be disbursed to all applicants that met the requirements.
Alerting journalists of their plight, the displeased beneficiaries said having waited and undergone the processes for the grant, they were shocked to receive alerts of ₦50, 000 as against the ₦500, 000 they applied for, while some others received ₦100, 000 each.
According to one of them, “This is pure embezzlement by the Edojobs because we applied for the grants, and all the monitoring and evaluation was done only for us to receive ₦50, 000. What now happened to the ₦5b that came to Edo State?
“It is only in Edo State that this is happening. Other states are giving up to N5 million to beneficiaries; why is Edo different? What can one do with ₦50, 000 in this present economy?
But reacting to the complaints, Ogunleye refuted the allegation of diversion or embezzlement.
Ogunleye, clarified that “Funds for beneficiaries range from ₦50, 000, to ₦500, 000, so, beneficiaries don’t have a say on what they want to collect because it has to go through a lot of processes from application to vetting by the M&E. There is a platform we use for that which is designed by the Bank of Industry.
“The platform is so robust that it takes you through the application, enumeration and at some point, the platform can even reject your application. The ₦50, 000 is for those doing petty businesses. There are people who received ₦500, 000 because they have larger numbers of staff and we need to see their payroll and match it with people on ground, but the slot for ₦500, 000 is very small.
“People must understand that the NG-Cares is split into three areas, result area 1, 2, & 3. Result area 3 is what we are handling. The money given to us is not up to ₦500 million. We need to split this money for many people to benefit. We received over 25, 000 applications.
“Presently over 3, 000 benefited, including I.T equipment and PoS operators. There is nothing like embezzlement, fraud or diversion”.