Dogara: Alleged Misuse of Recovered Public Funds May Discredit Buhari's Govt

 

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara, on Tuesday expressed concern that the confusion trailing the recovery of looted public funds and assets was capable of eroding the credibility of President Muhammadu Buhari's administration.

He said the National Assembly would not continue to look on as the controversy over alleged re-looting of recovered assets continue unabated.

"We won’t fold our arms and allow confusion to trail recovered funds and assets," he said.

Speaking at a public hearing by the House Joint Committee on Public Accounts and Finance on the need to ascertain the status of recovered public funds and assets from 1999 to date, the Speaker said the parliament owed it as a duty to Nigerians to ascertain the resources available to people.

Dogara said: "It is common knowledge that there are a lot of conflicting reports and claims from various agencies of government concerning the status of the funds and assets recovered from some citizens and corporate entities by law enforcement agencies.

"As a parliament, we cannot fold our arms and allow the confusion trailing the whereabouts of the recovered funds and assets to continue."

He said this informed the House resolve to mandate the joint committee to investigate the issue in the interest of accountability and transparency.

The Speaker added that the investigation had become necessary in order to ascertain how resources are being appropriated in line with the duties of the National Assembly as stated in the constitution.

Lead Chairman of the committee, Hon. Kingsley Chinda (PDP, Rivers), said the probe was not a witch-hunt but a response to the outcry of Nigerians over the matter.

He frowned at the a situation where about 18 government agencies had failed to turn up at the maiden sitting and directed that the invitation be served on them afresh to appear at the next hearing.

Chinda said: "We are not witch-hunting anybody but to create stronger bond with the people who deserve to know the truth."

He said though it appeared too early to draw conclusions, there are indications that many government properties had been written off and constitute recoveries, stressing that "we should look at the processes."

The lawmaker said recent statements by the government on recovered looted public funds running into billions of naira both locally and internationally could appear contradictory and out right confusing, therefore, the urgent need for a detailed investigation to lay the matter to rest.

The total value of recovered funds and assets is estimated at $ 2 trillion and the House had also mandated its Committee on Financial Crimes to investigate whether any crime had been committed in the course of the management and disbursement of funds recovered by the federal government in the last 12 years.

Some of the invited stakeholder are the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC), National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Person, Special Presidential Investigation Panel on the Recovery of Public Property, Nigeria Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) and the Presidential Committee on the Recovery of Assets (PCAR).

Others are the Minister of Finance, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Special Fraud Unit, Nigeria Police Force Ministry of Foreign Affairs among others.