Anti-Graft: $1bn Recovered, 3,000 Convicted In 7 Years – Federal Govt

Federal government has disclosed that $1 billion has been recovered so far under President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.

The attorney-general of the federation and minister of justice, Abubakar Malami, disclosed this to State House correspondents after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting presided over by President Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

Malami said the recovered assets had been deployed in various sectors of the economy including poverty alleviation.

He said the federal government had recorded only 109 convictions before 2015, while the Buhari administration convicted over 3,000 offenders and recovered about $1 billion to date.

He said FEC approved validation extension of the Anti-corruption Strategy Document 2022 to 2026, new policy which resulted from cooperation amongst Justice, to strengthen anti-graft fight in the country.

The AGF expressed disappointment with Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) engaged in budget padding, saying every necessary measure would be explored to address it.

“Whichever way one looks at it, budget padding is bad, because if you budget N5 billion for road and N3 billion of that fund is diverted, it means government has lost that money and it will take a longer period to complete the project.

“The government is concerned and will do what is necessary to address the issue,” he said.

During his briefing, the minister of works and housing Babatunde Fashola said council approved a budget augmentation of N14 billion on the Kano Western bypass, awarded to Dantata and Sawo.

According to him, the road project was raised from N22 billion to 36.89 billion.

“The need to include a flyover and more hydronic facilities to drain water, necessitated the augmentation” adding that “this will link the Kano Maiduguri high way.

He said the contract was inherited from previous administrations but the Muhammadu Buhari administration is determined to complete it.

“The Ministry of Works and Housing presented a council memo to get approval for the augmentation of the contract price for the completion of the Kano Western bye-pass which we inherited. The project had essentially not been funded in previous budget years.

“We are now executing it by the Sukuk Bond. Council considered and approved the augmentation which was for N14.095 billion. Some of the items covered by the augmentation include the old amount for Value Added Tax (VAT), which was increased from 5-7.5 percent.

“Others are the need to construct a flyover at Dawano International Market interchange and also the need to construct more hydraulic facilities to help drain water especially in the parts of the road that pass through the city centres and towns and the council approved this,” he explained.

The minister added that when completed, the road will link the Kano-Maiduguri highway which is almost completed.

Fashola also said the Ministry sought and got council’s approval to use the funds approved for the construction of a trailer park along the Enugu-Port Harcourt highway, to complete the main carriage way.

“This is because of the litigation we are facing from the communities where the trailer park is to be located, whose land was acquired for the construction of the park. In order not to delay the completion of the main carriageway and also in order to optimise today’s pricing, we sought approval and council approved that based on the recommendation of the Bureau for Public Procurement,” he said.