The Presidency has said that under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari, looters with multiple accounts can no longer hide their loots undetected.
In a fact sheet released on Buhari’s first year in office, the Presidency said the enforcement of the Bank Verification Number (BVN) “has ensured that ghost workers are being identified and dealt with, just as looters with multiple accounts no longer have a place to hide their loots.”
The statement said right from the moment Buhari won the presidential election in 2015, his posture as a no nonsense and incorruptible leader sent a signal to looters of public funds, “with many of them returning funds that had been stolen under the previous administration.”
It added that to create a frame work for prosecuting the war against corruption and institutionalize probity, President Buhari set up an Advisory Committee on War Against Corruption.
The Presidency said the anti-corruption battle was gaining ground with several high profile cases already in the courts, adding that Buhari’s administration was being guided by the rule of law in the prosecution of corruption cases.
It recalled that President Buhari had enlisted the support of multilateral institutions like the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, security agencies, Western countries and other friendly nations to locate and repatriate stolen assets.
“At a London summit on anti-corruption, President Buhari announced that Nigeria will begin the full implementation of the principles of the OPEN contracting data standards. In the first quarter of 2016, President Buhari embarked on trips to the Middle East to sensitize the governments on the need to repatriate stolen assets and hand over the looters for trial in Nigeria. In January, Nigeria and UAE signed Judicial Agreements on Extradition, Transfer of Sentenced Persons, Mutual Legal Assistance on Criminal Matters.
“In March 2016, the Federal Government and the Swiss Government signed a Letter of Intent On the Restitution of Illegally-Acquired Assets forfeited in Switzerland. Under the agreement, Switzerland will repatriate $ 321 million USD illicitly acquired by the Gen. Sani Abacha family. In March 2016, the Presidential Committee set up to probe contracts awarded by the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) from 2011 to 2015, announced the recovery of over N7 billion from indicted companies and individuals,” it added.
The Presidency also stated that the implementation of the Treasury Single Account (TSA) had provided greater visibility of government revenues and cash flows, disclosing that between June 2015 and April 2016, the government had mopped up N3 trillion.
It added that in order to further instil fiscal discipline, President Buhari had directed the closure of all multiple accounts in ministries, departments and agencies, thereby plugging loopholes for leakages with new technology.
On security, the Presidency said the military had rescued 11,595 persons in the ongoing operations in the northeast.
It said the relocation of the Nigerian Military Command Centre to Maiduguri since May 2015 contributed to the success in the fight against insurgency in the northeast.
It added that since December 2015, the well-motivated and rejuvenated Nigerian military had regained all Nigerian territories previously under Boko Haram control.
See complete fact sheet on Page 59
Posted via Rayyanu Z Usman
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