President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered the sale of all assets that were recovered from alleged corrupt public officials, and the proceeds remitted into the federal government-owned Treasury Single Account (TSA).
The federal government, through its anti-graft Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), secured the forfeiture of assets and cash worth billions of naira.
“Let’s see who will now take back the money from the treasury, and give back to those people, as was done in the past,” the president said yesterday when he played host to members of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC) at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, yesterday.
Buhari recalled experience of the past, in which assets were seized from officials, who could not explain how they got them, “only for those assets to be returned to them when government was changed,” a development he vowed will not re-occur.
The president also said as part of efforts to cut cost of governance at the federal level, he will ensure all avenues for corrupt practices are shut in the country.
President Buhari warned the Committee members that some of the elite in the country “won’t trust you, and you will be alienated, no matter how close you are to them.’’ He, however, appreciated them for choosing to be on the part of Nigerians who are yearning for economic growth.
Chairman of PACAC, Prof Itse Sagay, who led the delegation, said Nigeria was lucky more than ever to have a person of President Buhari’s credentials as leader of government.
“We congratulate you for being a star of the anti-corruption struggle in Africa.
“You attach a lot of importance to the fight against corruption, and we have tried to achieve the aims you had in mind when you established PACAC,” Prof Sagay added.
According to him, the committee trains, builds capacity of anti-corruption agencies, and has helped to develop a programme of non-conviction assets recovery, which is recording great successes.
The president’s spokesman, Femi Adesina, in a statement, said PACAC had made some recommendations to the president to move the anti-corruption war many steps forward.
The recommendations include re-establishment of the jury system for criminal cases in the country and setting up of a judicial commission on corruption in the judiciary, to be headed by retired judges under the auspices of National Judicial Council (NJC).
Others are: passage of Proceeds of Crime Act by the National Assembly; the setting up of a Presidential Truth and Restitution Task Force, and a closer look at the cost of governance to weed out all vestiges of corruption.
Prof Sagay, who fielded questions from State House correspondents, disclosed that about N1billion was recovered internally from corrupt Nigerians since the establishment of the committee in 2015.
He, however, stated that the recovered amount had been expended on the Federal Government’s Social Investment Programme between 2017 and 2018.
The president promised PACAC that his administration would beam a searchlight on cost of governance, and weed out possible corruption that exists anywhere.
President Buhari pledged that government would take a dispassionate look into all the requests.
Jonathan ,Buhari Meets In Aso Villa
President Muhammadu Buhari, yesterday, met with former President Goodluck Jonathan at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
This is the first time the former president will be visiting Buhari since his re-election.
However, the former president declined to speak with State House correspondents after the meeting which lasted only five minutes.
It was gathered that the visit may be connected to the state of the nation and appointment of Jonathan by the United Nations (UN) as its Special Envoy on Crisis Management as announced by UN Secretary General, Antonio Gutierrez .
The former president has also been nominated by the African Union (AU) to lead the continental body’s Election Observation Mission to Mozambique’s October 15 general election.
In view of this, he is billed to leave the country today for Maputo, capital of Mozambique, where he will be overseeing the deployment of the mission’s 40-member team of observers to different parts of the country.
Sagay accused 8th NASS Aided Corruption
PACAC chairman, Prof Itse Sagay has accused the immediate past 8th National Assembly of aiding corruption by stymieing the anti-corruption agencies from prosecuting offenders.
Prof Sagay, however, said that the capacity of corruption to fight back has been reduced with the expiration of the life of 8th Assembly because that was where the main opposition to this government was constituted.
Sagay spoke to State House correspondents yesterday when he led members of the committee to a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The renowned professor of Law said that the 8th Assembly was the main opposition to the fight against corruption.
He said, “It did not depend on which party they belonged to; they all ganged up against the fight against corruption and did everything they could to frustrate the government and ourselves in the this fight.
“Luckily, the 9th Assembly is a totally different Assembly. It is an Assembly that is determined to work hand in hand with the government and therefore with us in achieving the highest level of non-corruption in society.”
In the area of recoveries, the PACAC chairman said: “it is unprecedented in the annals of this country that we could be recovering so much assets illegally acquired mainly by public servants, but not only by public servants.
“The more remarkable aspect of it is that these recovered loots are being ploughed into the national budget every year. It is ploughed back into the national budget and used for the Social Investment Programme.
“So when you hear about feeding of over 12 million school children as at when I checked last, having nutritious meal every day, you hear of poor families being supported to survive and stand on their feet or over 500,000 young people who are being trained in all sorts of skills and paid N30,000 a month by the government and the interest free loans given to small scale businesses all over the country.
“It’s all part of this money, not a kobo of it is left, everything is ploughed back and I think the country should know that it’s very unprecedented. This never happened before in the history of this country; everything is ploughed back.”
He boasted that the committee had succeeded in improving the quality of prosecution by giving the anti-corruption prosecution agencies a lot of capacity building in the manner cases should be prosecuted and how charges should be drawn.
According to him, judges up to the Supreme Court have also benefitted from this programme.
On fuel subsidy, he said that nobody talks about fuel subsidy corruption anymore as he revealed that previously Nigeria was losing N400 billion every year on fake fuel subsidy payments “but now, it is zero.”
He maintained that Nigeria has gained tremendously as corruption has gone down.
“There is still corruption but it has gone down and anybody who indulges, particularly an officer of a state who engages in it knows the risk he is taking.
“We have the TSA, we have the bank verification number, all those things have made an incredible change in our level of anti-corruption.
“Now you cannot hide money in the banks anymore and agencies cannot hide money in various bank accounts which they spend without the knowledge of the government. Everything is in one place, everything is transparent, thanks to this government,” the anti-corruption committee chairman added.
On challenges confronting the fight against corruption he said: “Previously we were afraid that when the initial donor agency funds will be exhausted which we exhausted last year, we will be in trouble but I must say the government and various other bodies in this country, which I will not want to mention, have come to support PACAC with funds. So we are able to carry on our activities at the same speed as before.”
The professor further disclosed about N1trillion had been recovered from looters in the country and from loot stashed abroad, with all monies being ploughed back into the system.
Nigerians abroad eager to Invest in 200 businesses
Meanwhile, the federal government has said that the $25 billion Foreign Direct Investment inflow boosted the economy after the nation exited recession in 2018.
It said that Nigerians in the Diaspora, who accounted for the highest net contribution to the FDI, have expressed the desire to invest in over 200 businesses and projects in different sectors of the economy, including agriculture, telecommunication, technology, real estate, health and education.
Disclosing this at a news conference in Abuja, yesterday, chairman, Nigerians in the Diaspora Commission, Abike Dabiri-Erewa explained that over 300 investors would participate in the 2019 Nigeria Diaspora Investment Summit scheduled for November 6-7,2019, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The summit with the theme, ‘Leveraging diaspora investment for economic growth,’ is supported by the Nigeria Diaspora Alumni Network, Nigeria Investment Promotion Commission, Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission, Bank of Industry, Nigeria Export Promotion Council, Bauchi State Government, Keystone Bank, Rwandair, among others.
Dabiri-Erewa, who is the summit convener, stated that the event recognised the important role the Diaspora could play and had played in helping other countries achieve amazing economic growth and transformation.
She said, “The summit underscores the fact that Nigerians in the Diaspora, who currently account for the highest net contribution to FDI inflows into the country with $25 billion remitted in 2018, represent a game-changing leverage for the country as the economy exits recession and heads towards growth.
“This year’s summit could not have come at a better following the presentation of the national budget and fiscal plans for the year 2020, marking a return to the old January to December fiscal year.”
According to her, the summit organizers’ decision to prioritize investment in small businesses was informed by the government’s current emphasis on providing support for the small business sector, and agriculture.
“Diaspora investors will be encouraged to channel their investments into these as well as the other sectors within the clusters,” the NIDCOM chairman noted.
She disclosed that the summit would focus on agribusiness, education, training and skilled workforce development; healthcare services and awareness; entertainment, hospitality and tourism; infrastructure and real estate; manufacturing, and extractive industries and others.