We still recover stolen funds on daily basis –Adeosun

The Federal Government says it recovers millions of dollars in stolen funds from public coffers, according to Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, Minister of Finance.

Adeosun, who stated this while speaking on a programme on African Independent Television (AIT) on Thursday, declined confirming exactly how much has so far been recovered.

She said the Muhammadu Buhari-led administration would not leave any stone unturned in its effort at returning looted funds.

Hear Adeosun: “It’s a process that we are reconciling and I’m sure that very soon, we will put out some data; I think Lai Mohammed (Information Minister) put out some figures, but since then we have improved our reconciliation methods and we have an asset tracking team.

“I’m confident that very soon we’ll put out updated figures of recovery changes day to day because on a daily basis, money is being recovered from various places but soon we’ll put out comprehensive figures on that.

“The recovered funds are still with me, part of it is to be used for budget. The acting president has insisted that we identify projects in the budgets that will have national impact so we are going through the budget to identify and release funds for that especially in the area of health.

“Stolen funds will be used for capital projects, not paying of salaries.”

Read also: Again, suit seeking to declare Buhari medically unfit hits court

When asked when the country will exit recession, Adeosun said getting out of recession is not the most important thing.

“We are out, we’re out to an extent and we hope that the figures will reflect the fact that we’re out.

“We shouldn’t focus too much on when, what we should focus on is growth. Getting out of recession is not enough, we have to grow and grow aggressively.

“The Economic Recovery and Group Plan (ERGP) is a programme that will have us seeing seven or eight percent growth and that is the kind of growth we need for our population growth and I’d like to focus less on when we’ll get out of recession.”

On Paris Club refund, Adeosun said all beneficiary states must have evidence of use of the funds for salaries and pensions, adding that the ministry of finance releases figures of how much each state received so members of the public can follow up.

Towards the 2015 general election, the Buhari team listed the fight against corruption as one of the areas it would focus on. Since the beginning of its tenure, operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and Department of State Services (DSS) have on various occasions recovered money from various people.

She said the most prominent of the recovered funds was the $9.8 million from Andrew Yakubu, former group managing director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

 

RipplesNigeria ….without borders, without fears

Click here to download the Ripples Nigeria App for latest updates

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now