Amnesty Office: HURIWA Calls for Immediate Investigation of Alleged N48bn Expenditures Scam
President
Muhammadu Buhari has been asked to immediately order the investigation of the
procurement mechanisms at the Niger Delta Amnesty office since the assumption of
office.
Few months ago, there was allegation on the Presidential
Adviser on Niger Delta Amnesty Office, Brigadier General Paul Boro (rtd),
following widespread allegations of serious violations of due process and abuses
of procurement law in the purchase of exotic bullet proof cars, and the
payments of outrageous fees to a largely unknown firm (Westerfield) company to
coach some repentant ex- militants preparatory to writing JAMB.
HURIWA
has also expressed serious concern that at the timePresident Buhari is
reportedly preaching strict adherence to the procurement Act to avoid
corruption and economic crime, a key appointee of the president is allegedly given
unfettered permission to embark on “spending bazaar and bonanza of frivolous
purchases of highly exorbitant and exotic bullet proof (armoured) cars even
when widespread reports of forceful repatriation of beneficiaries of the
Amnesty Office's foreign educational scholarship schemes for failure to meet
financial and tuitions of these ex-militants have emerged embarrassingly.”
The
rights group noted that it amounts to extravagant expenditures of the most
crudely and inordinate form for the Special Adviser to President Buhari who is
serving a government battling to come to terms with how to meet up with the
welfare needs of Nigerians to now be seen to have actually blown away N48
billion within few months of his appointment.
“Among
the frivolities include official cars, when he actually reportedly inherited
from his predecessor, Mr Kingsley Kuku, a brand new Toyota Land cruiser,” it
alleged.
HURIWA
stated that the idea of hiring an untested coaching firm (Westerfield) to
coach prospective undergraduates on how to pass university admissions tests
makes nonsense of the transparency and accountability threshold of a democratic
government “when it is a notorious fact that Nigeria is richly endowed with
good and credible teaching staff who can guide prospective students preparatory
to eventual university admissions at affordable professional fees which would
save cost.
"How
on earth can an official of the government who has told the world that it needs
to borrow from World Bank to pay public workers to now be identified as a man
who loves ostentatious lifestyle at the expense of the distressed beneficiaries
of this Niger Delta Amnesty Programme?
“President
Buhari must ensure that the relevant agencies of law enforcement and anti-graft
agencies are allowed to immediately swing into action to recover this scarce
public fund being frittered away on frivolous items by the Special Adviser on
Niger Delta Amnesty Programme, Boro.
“This
unmitigated extravagance must be effectively checked and all indicted officials
made to face the full wrath of the law. The fact that the office of the Special
Adviser on Niger Delta Amnesty Programme seeks to justify these outrageous
expenditures which may have violated extant procurement and transparency laws
is abominable and unacceptable.”
HURIWA
condemned the act saying: “This is reprehensible and totally condemnable. These
series of near sleazy acquisitions by a public official at this troubling
financial time is unsustainable and must be questioned by the anti corruption
authorities because these purchases are clear breaches of the Nigerian
monetisation policy and is a breach of the Bureau of Public Procurement Act
because a Special Adviser isn't allowed to reach such a phenomenal thresholds
of authorising payments for multimillion projects and purchases.
“Moreover,
why pay over N500 million to an offshore consultancy firm to prepare would-be
beneficiaries of the Niger Delta amnesty programme when a lot of final year
students who are undergoing scholarships abroad are being recalled for lack of
funds to foot their tuition fees? This is an unmitigated and an unpardonable
misadventure."
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