VP says Corruption made past social intervention schemes ineffective

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has identified massive corruption and lack of coordination by Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), as bane of social intervention programmes by past administrations.

Osinbajo made the observation at a meeting of the MDAs involved in the President Muhammadu Buhari administration’s social investment plans held in his office.

Osinbajo’s spokesman, Mr Laolu Akande, made details of the meeting available to State House Correspondents in Abuja on Wednesday.

Akande said Osinbajo reiterated the resolve of Buhari to ensure effective coordination of the social intervention programmes.

He explained that the programme for which the Federal Government had proposed not less than half a trillion naira in 2016 was very dear to the President and the ruling APC.

"The bane of some of these projects in the past has been lack of implementation and a great deal of corruption,’’ Osinbajo told the MDAs.

According to him, so much corruption exist that so many of the projects did not make sense any more.

Osinbajo, therefore, told the officials that the implementation teams of the administration must ensure effective coordination and that money allocated to the programmes got to where they were meant to go to.

According to Akande, the vice president reminded them that it was why the administration was very serious with the anti-corruption fight to ensure that those who short changed the poor masses were held accountable.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that some of the MDAs in attendance included Education, Agriculture, Health, Environment and Water Resources.