After the release of some of the funds by the Ministry of Finance for the payment of SPW stipends, I directed a rigorous scrutiny of the accounts of the participants before payments.

We discovered instances of accounts not matching BVNs, multiple accounts bearing a single BVN, non-existent BVNs, etc. 

Because of our determination to eliminate fraud, I further directed the NDE to write to the banks to clean up these anomalies before commencing payments.

So far, only ACCESS Bank has responded with accounts verified for payments and the NDE has today commenced payments of those accounts with ACCESS Bank 

We await the responses of ZENITH, UBA, FCMB, FIDELITY, HERITAGE and Yobe Micro-Finance Banks to clean up the anomalies.

Our determination to ensure those selected for this programme get paid to assist them in these tough times is also matched by our determination to ensure that the programme does not spiral into a vehicle for fraud; not under the watch of Mr. President; not under my watch.