The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Thursday w began to interrogate the immediate past permanent secretary in the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and National Orientation, Mrs Nkechi Ejele, over her role in the alleged misapplication of funds meant for the Subsidy Re-investment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P) appropriated to the Ministry in 2013 and 2014.
Mrs. Ejele reportedly arrived the EFCC headquarters at about 10am where she is being grilled by operatives of the commission.
Mrs Ejele was deployed from the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation (Manpower Development Unit) to the Ministry Tourism, Culture & National Orientation on March 6, 2013 and remained on the saddle until she was removed by President Muhammadu Buhari on November 10, 2015.
A former chairman of SURE-P, Christopher Kolade, recently said he resigned his position in 2013 because its operations were becoming tainted with corruption and politics, thereby losing its credibility. He said some officials of the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan were practising “something that was lower than the transparency”, expected of an interventionist agency like SURE-P.
He said he met resistance when he raised the issues as he was overruled by some powerful forces within the administration.
By Olisemeka Obeche