Aggrieved SURE-P staff protest over N4.9bn fraud

A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Chief Olabode George among other Nigerians have been accused of embezzlement to the tune of N4.947billion from 51,000 jobless Nigerians recruited as Federal Task Force officers for the protection of Subsidy Re-investment and Empowerment Programme,SURE-P/Federal Road Maintenance Agency,FER MA projects in Nigeria.

The aggrieved staff who almost barricaded the complex, petitioned the House of Representatives via the Chairman, House Adhoc Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Sani Zoro (APC, Jigawa); a copy of which was made available to newsmen, stated in the petition that the PDP chieftains among who is a former minister made them to purchase the Federal Task Force forms which were supposed to be free at the rate N30,000 each, despite their impoverished situation, only to be employed, used and abandoned.

The petition read in part: “We wish to cry out and seek for your urgent help over the fraudulent extortion from us and dehumanization of our lives under the SURE-P/FERMA employment programme named Federal Task Force by the above listed names and other officers (Directors) under the following pretence and tricks. Hence we were recruited and employed for the past three years without any training allowances, no salary and other allowances were paid to us.

“We were mandated to pay for the Presidency SURE-P/FERMA Task Force forms. We bought the forms with inscription ‘NOT FOR SALE’ boldly written on it at an average amount of Thirty Thousand Naira (N30,000) each.”

It further alleged that several other payments were made for different reasons such as “loyalty” by the 51,000 recruited officers and petitioners.

The petition was jointly signed by the 51,000 aggrieved officers who laid siege on the National Assembly complex in their full operational gears yesterday. Oluremi Adeniji as Director of Administration.

Bode George reacts
Efforts to reach Chief George proved abortive but one of his aides, who pleaded anonymity said “Chief Bode George never collected a kobo from anybody, he was never part of the SURE-P or FERMA programme, nobody knows those who were there. They mentioned names of their officials, let them go and meet those officials.

The people that were mentioned are those controlling the programme, let the officials tell them those who collected money and what they did with the money. He (George) had never, at any particular time identified with those boys, we don’t know what they were doing. We don’t know who collected money from those boys.”