BEVERLY HILLS, November 22, (THEWILL) –Â President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday vowed to put in place measures to check embezzlement and diversion of recovered assets to private pockets.
He gave the assurance on Wednesday while inaugurating the Audit Committee on the recovery and management of stolen assets, within and outside Nigeria, by Federal Government agencies at the First Lady conference room in the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
He declared that all recovered assets must be accounted for and directed all the Ministries, Departments, Agencies and corporate bodies to give the Committee, which has four weeks to carry out the assignment, all the necessary support.
“In view of the multiple cases of mis-managed and misappropriated national assets identified by this administration upon our assumption of office, the Federal Government embarked on tracing and recovery of all such stolen assets within and outside Nigeria using all legal and diplomatic resources at our disposal,” the President stated.
“The gains of our initiatives over the past two and a half years have been very obvious to all Nigerians. This is clear from the level of investigation, prosecution and forfeitures involving both public and private sector officials in the country.
“The message has therefore been passed loud and clear that never again as a nation are we going to allow the wanton diversion and embezzlement of public funds to private pockets.
“In the course of implementing this exercise and given the number of agencies who are concurrently pursuing specialized initiatives and making recoveries for Government, it has become obvious that fundamental gaps still exist in ensuring that the recovered assets are accounted for, and managed in an accurate, transparent and logical manner.
“It was in realization of this and due to our determination to ensure that in pursuing the anti-graft war, we do not create new room for dishonorable conduct by any individual or agency that I directed, earlier in the year, that all agencies should send in detailed reports of all their recovered assets as at March, 2017.
“The decision to inaugurate this Audit Committee on the Recovery and Management of Stolen Assets within and Outside Nigeria today is therefore the next step in ensuring that all returns filed by the various agencies are accurate and consistent with actual recoveries made.
“The Committee, in essence, is therefore expected to judiciously undertake an audit of all recovery accounts established by government agencies from the date of opening such accounts up to 10th April, 2017.”
About the Author
