 |
Alhaji
Lai Mohammed, Minister of Information
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WHAT 55 PEOPLE STOLE
(2006 -2013)
CATEGORY
NO OF CASES
AMOUNT INVOLVED
EX-GOVERNORS
15
₦146,840,800,000.00
EX-MINISTERS
4
₦7,050,000,000.00
EX-LEGISLATORS
5
₦8,350,000,000.00
EX-PUBLIC
SERVANTS 7 (Federal) ₦6,906,600,000.00
EX-PUBLIC
SERVANTS 5 (State) ₦7,275,000,000.00
BANKING
INDUSTRY 8 ₦524,560,000,000.00
BUSINESSMEN
11
₦653,150,000,000.00
GRAND TOTAL
55
₦1,354,132,400,000.00
The Federal Government
has alleged that 55 former government functionaries and top businessmen stole ₦1.34tn
from public treasury in eight years.
The Punch report continues:
Minister
of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, made the allegation at a press
conference to announce a National Sensitization Campaign against Corruption in
Abuja on Monday.
Although
Mohammed did not disclose the authority for the allegation, he categorised the
officials involved in the corrupt practices to include former state governors,
ex-ministers, former legislators, civil servants, bankers and other
businessmen.
Different
government agencies, including the Independent Corrupt Practices and other
related Offences Commission, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, the
Department of State Services and some ad hoc committees have been intensely
involved in one investigation or the other since President Muhammadu Buhari
assumed office on May 29, 2015.
Mohammed
said, “The situation is dire and the time to act is now. Between 2006 and 2013,
just 55 people allegedly stole a total of ₦1.34tn in Nigeria. That’s more than
a quarter of last year’s national budget.
“Out
of the stolen funds, 15 former governors allegedly stole ₦146.84bn; four former
ministers allegedly stole ₦7.05bn; five former legislators allegedly stole ₦8.35bn;
12 former public servants, both at federal and state levels, allegedly stole
over ₦14.18bn; eight people in the banking industry allegedly stole ₦524bn;
while 11 businessmen allegedly stole ₦653bn.
“What
do these figures translate to in the actual sense? In other words, what is the
cost of these stolen funds to Nigerians? Using the World Bank rates and costs,
one-third of the stolen funds could have provided 635.18 kilometres of road;
built 36 ultra-modern hospitals, that is one ultra-modern hospital per state;
built 183 schools; educated 3,974 children from primary to tertiary level at ₦25.24m
per child; and built 20,062 units of two-bedroomed houses.
“This
is the money that a few people, just 55 in number, allegedly stole within a
period of just eight years. And instead of a national outrage, all we hear are
these nonsensical statements that the government is fighting only the
opposition or that the government is engaging in vendetta.”
He
urged Nigerians to get involved in the war against corruption.
Mohammed
said everyone that had been soiled in the pool of corruption would go in for it
no matter the party affiliation, adding that Buhari’s war on corruption was
neither a one-man show nor a political vendetta.
He
said, “Let’s take the latest issue of the US$2.1bn arms deal as an example. One
thing is clear. Funds meant to fight terrorism were deployed in another fight,
the fight to keep the then President Goodluck Jonathan and his party, the PDP,
in power at all costs.
“So
far, based on what we know, no one, who has been accused of partaking in the
sharing of the (arms purchase) funds, has denied receiving money. All we have
heard from them are ludicrous reasons why they partook in the sharing of the
money.
“One
said he collected ₦4.5bn for spiritual purposes; another said he received ₦2.1bn
for publicity, while yet another said he got ₦13bn to pay someone else for the
Maritime University land.
“Based
on these revelations, should we now fold our hands and allow these people to go
away with public funds? Is anyone thinking about the innocent soldiers, who
lost their lives just because they did not get the necessary weapons to fight
the terrorists? What about the families left behind by these soldiers, who were
sent to their early graves because of the misappropriation of these funds?.
The
minister added, “Talking about the costs of corruption, gentlemen, it is time
we brought into perspective what corruption has done to our nation, our people
and our international image; how corruption stifles economic growth, hinders
the fight against poverty, leads to decay in infrastructure and reduces
educational standards, lowers life expectancy, stunts the fight against
maternal and infant mortality and impacts negatively on the general livelihood
of the citizens.
“Irrespective
of your political, religious or tribal leanings, and not minding whether you
belong to the APC, PDP, SDP or Labour Party, if you have stolen public funds,
you must not go scot-free. Everyone and every arm of government must rise up to
be counted in this epic war and defeat is not an option, if our country is to
survive.’’
Some
Nigerians, however, believed they should not just be informed on the magnitude
of the amount looted but demanded that the identities of the looters should be
made public while those found to have taken part in the sharing of such money
be made to refund the funds stolen, be prosecuted and jailed accordingly.
Lagos-based
lawyer, Mr. Jiti Ogunye, said, “These are incredible figures of what has been
stolen from our public treasury. We advise, however, that the issue of theft of
our collective patrimony is a law enforcement issue, it’s a criminal issue,
it’s a prosecution issue, it’s ultimately adjudication issue. In other words,
Nigerians are not particularly interested in these figures.
“Nigerians
have the right to know and need to know what has gone wrong in the past, what
is going wrong now and what may go wrong in the future. But we want a credible
prosecution process such that these 55 Nigerians, who stole money, can be
brought to trial and those who are undergoing trial can have their trials
re-visited urgently under the new Administration of Criminal Justice Act so
that those trials can come to an end and the loots recovered and put to good
use in the interest of the public.
“The
recovered loot should not be re-looted like the funds recovered from Abacha.”
In
his reaction, the President of Committee for Defence of Human Rights, Mr.
Malachy Ugwummadu, also advised the government to be more interested in the
prosecution of the suspects and the recovery of the loot.
Ugwummadu,
a lawyer, said, “He (Lai Mohammed) is not a court of law. He should join forces
with law enforcement agencies, which have the exclusive responsibilities of
collating credible evidence.
‘‘The
idea of running to town with figures of stolen money like a crown crier is not
expected of government.’’
An
elder statesman, Dr. Tunji Braithwaite, as well as the Executive Director,
Civil Liberties Organization, Ibuchukwu Ezike, said Nigerians were tired of
wild allegations without seeing the looters being brought to book.
Braithwaite
said, “People are fed up with wild allegations from this government. Not long
ago, Buhari came out to announce that he had the list of individual corrupt
persons, who had looted the Nigerian treasury. Up until now, we haven’t seen
anything.
“I
take the allegation with a pinch of salt until and unless he publishes the
names and takes action.’’
Ezike,
on his own, stated, “When government makes allegation about corrupt people, we
are no longer interested except we begin to see these people being investigated
and prosecuted and the money recovered from them made public to the Nigerian
people and have this money transparently expended in the interest of
Nigerians.”
Executive
Chairman of Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders, Mr. Debo Adeniran, said though
the minister was correct, the revelation by him should culminate in the
prosecution of the suspects.
He,
however, reiterated that Lai Mohammed’s revelation aligned with the belief that
only one per cent of Nigerians enjoyed 99 per cent of the nation’s
commonwealth.
He
said, “Lai Mohammed is correct. Now that this has been published, Nigerians are
interested in addressing the issue through the judicial process.
“Nigerians are interested
in the case such that even if the suspects escape justice, they are able to ostracize
them and shame them.”
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