FG: WE’LL PROSECUTE INDICTED LOOTERS

FG: WE’LL

PROSECUTE

INDICTED LOOTERS

The

Federal

Ministry

of

Justice

has

said

it

will

prosecute

whoever

is

found

wanting

by

relevant government agencies for looting public

funds.

The permanent secretary of the ministry Alhaji

Abdullahi Ahmed Yola said this while addressing

State House journalists yesterday after briefing

President Muhammadu Buhari on the activities of

the ministry.

Responding to a question on whether his ministry

was involved in the efforts by the government to

receive the looted funds, Yola said the ministry

would play its part of prosecuting all those found

culpable.

Yola however said his ministry had yet to receive

the report of the investigation on the matter.

“If the ministry receives investigations concluded

by the responsible agencies, we will play our part.

We will play our part with the prosecution of

whoever has been found wanting, and the security

agencies have concluded investigation on that. At

the moment the ministry is not in receipt of any

report concerning that,” he said.

“As you know, rule of law is one of the cardinal

policies of this administration and we’ve given

him (Buhari) a rundown of what we’ve been doing

from 2011 till now. We also pledged to him to

continue cooperating with him to ensure that all

the promises he has made to Nigerians as far as

they relate to rule of law are achieved,” he said.

President Buhari had, at a meeting with state

governors on June 23, vowed to recover from all

government officials who abused their offices in

the recent past, all the billions of funds stolen.

“There are financial and administrative

instructions in every government parastatal and

agency. But all these were thrown to the dogs in

the past. Honestly, our problems are great, but

we’ll do our best to surmount them. The next

three months may be hard, but billions of dollars

can be recovered, and we’ll do our best,” he said.

The president, who had earlier said that he met a

virtually empty treasury, also told the governors

that a comprehensive statement on the economic

and financial situation inherited by his

government would be made available to Nigerians

by July 21. He had also disclosed that his

government had received firm assurances of

cooperation from the United States and other

nations on the recovery and repatriation of funds

stolen from the country, saying it was now up to

Nigeria to provide the international community

with the facts and figures needed to drive the

recovery effort.

“In the next three months, our administration will

be busy getting those facts and the figures to

help us recover our stolen funds in foreign

countries,” Buhari had stated this while meeting

with the northern traditional rulers’ council on

June 23.