Banks, oil firms owe N32bn B’Haram victims’ funds – Presidency

Six months after key stakeholders in various sectors of the Nigerian
economy pledged over N50bn to help support victims of insurgency
across the country, about 70 per cent of the pledges have not been
redeemed.
Specifically, the largest sectoral donors, banking and oil/gas
sectors, at the fund raising, which was held at the Presidential
Villa, had yet to pay anything out of the billions of naira they
pledged.
It was gathered that of the over N50bn pledged at the event, the
Presidential Committee on Victims Support Fund had received only
N15bn.
A member of the committee told journalists in Abuja that the N15bn so
far redeemed was garnered from the donors since August, 2014.
The official, who pleaded not to be named because he was not
authorised to speak on the subject, spoke on the sidelines of an event
organised by an NGO, budgIT, where it presented a report on Flood
Relief and Rehabilitation Fund.
Asked to state how much was realised after the pledges and how the
fund was used, the official said, "It's about N15bn as of August; we
are going to publish our account very soon and it will be made
available to the press. But in the mean time, we are trying as much as
possible to ensure that individuals redeem their pledges, including
members of the oil and gas sector as well as members in the financial
sector.
"We are appealing to them and we are hoping that they redeem their pledges."
The Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Allinson-Maduekwe,
had led representatives of the oil and gas community in Nigeria to
announce their donation of a whopping N17bn during the event.
Operators in the banking sector pledged in billions when the Governor,
Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, announced a donation of
N15bn on their behalf.
When asked to state how the N15bn so far realised by the committee was
spent, the official said, "At the moment, we are setting up
blueprints. We have tried to take a census of the people that have
been displaced in terms of military victims, police victims, women,
children and all that.
"So there has really not been any disbursement so far except for the
intervention that we have done in the three states and Abuja.
"Apart from these interventions, there had not been much expenditure
so far. But we had the take-off at Waru here in Abuja and we have been
to Borno, Adamawa and Gombe states."

Credits} the punch