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| Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed |
The Federal Government has alleged that
55 former government functionaries and top businessmen stole N1.34tn
from public treasury in eight years.
Minister of Information and Culture,
Alhaji Lai Mohammed, made the allegation at a press conference to
announce a National Sensitisation 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 N1.34tn in Nigeria. That’s more than a
quarter of last year’s national budget.
“Out of the stolen funds, 15 former
governors allegedly stole N146.84bn; four former ministers allegedly
stole N7.05bn; five former legislators allegedly stole N8.35bn; 12
former public servants, both at federal and state levels, allegedly
stole over N14.18bn; eight people in the banking industry allegedly
stole N524bn; while 11 businessmen allegedly stole N653bn.
“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 N25.24m 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.
Source: punchng.com
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