Buhari pledges to recover funds embezzled under Jonathan's regime

Firstclass newsline learnt that President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday
vowed to recover billions of dollars stolen under the administration
of his immediate predecessor, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan.
He said the Jonathan government threw the nation into a financial
crisis by throwing all financial and administrative processes in
parastatals and agencies to "the dogs"
Promising that the era of impunity and financial recklessness was
over, the President said the next 90 days might be hard for the
Federal Government and the states.
"The next three months may be hard, but billions of dollars can be
recovered, and we will do our best," Buhari said in a statement made
available to journalists after his meeting with the 36 state governors
in Abuja.
But he did not state how he would go about the recovery of the looted funds.
Buhari regretted that the impunity, lack of accountability and
financial recklessness in the management of national resources by the
past administration threw the country into a situation that is worse
than what happened in the Second Republic.
The President, in the statement by his Special Adviser on Media and
Publicity, Femi Adesina, added, "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 will do our best to surmount them."
He said that a comprehensive statement on the economic and financial
situation inherited by his administration would be made public within
the next four weeks.
"We will try and put the system back into the right position. What
happened in the 2nd Republic has apparently happened again, and even
worse, but we will restore sanity to the system," Buhari assured the
governors.
It will be recalled Buhari toppled the Second Republic government of
President Shehu Shagari on December 31, 1983 on allegations of
corruption and gross mismanagement.
The President, according to the statement by Adesina, expressed
surprise that governors had been tolerating the atrocities allegedly
committed in the management of the Excess Crude Account since 2011.
He then promised to tackle the issue decisively.
The President also declared that the payment of national revenue into
any account other than the Federation Account was an abuse of the
constitution.
He added that most of what he heard going on in many agencies and
corporations, particularly the Nigerian National Petroleum
Corporation, were clearly illegal.
On the refund of money spent on federal projects by state governments,
Buhari assured the governors that the Federal Government would pay,
but insisted that due process must be followed.
The President said that special assistance would be given the three
North-East states badly affected by the Boko Haram insurgency.
On an immediate lifeline for states that have yet to pay their
workers for months, the President said that a committee headed by
Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo would look into the ECA and come up with
an amount that could be shared immediately.
The governors, led by their Chairman, Abdulaziz Yari of Zamfara State,
had presented a wish list to the President.
The wish list included:
*.Obedience of extant Supreme Court ruling that all money goes into
the Consolidated Federation Account;
*.An order from the President that all revenue generating agencies
must pay into the Consolidated Federation Account;
*.Review of the Revenue Allocation Formula;
*.Refund of the monies expended by states on federal projects;
*.A special consideration for the three states of the North-East under
Boko Haram infestation; and
*.Full details of the amounts that accrued into the ECA from 2011 and
how the money shrank without official sharing.
As of May 15, 2015, only $2.79bn was left in the ECA.
FG owes N5.53tn, states; N658bn.
Before the statement by Adesina, the Chairman of the Nigeria
Governors' Forum, Abdulaziz Yari, had told the State House
correspondents at a news conference that even the Federal Government
was currently battling with domestic debts totalling N5.53tn.
Yari, who is also the governor of Zamfara State, disclosed that all
the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, were owing N658bn.
He was joined at the briefing by his Bauchi and Abia states
counterparts, Muhammed Abubakar and Okezie Ikpeazu.
Yari said, "At our meeting today (Tuesday), we identified the problem
and we are going to find a solution.
"Right now, we cannot even pay salaries much less of embarking on
development projects. So, at least we have to work faster and salvage
the situation.
"I want you to note that it is not only the states. The states' debts
are not as bad as that, we made it clear to Mr. President that the
total debts of 36 states and FCT is N658bn but the domestic debts of
the Federal Government is N5.53tn, so is not equal.
"So, we appreciate the fact we are all in this problem. The Federal
Government cannot pay members of staff of ministries, departments and
agencies and states cannot pay workers."
The governor explained that the meeting with the President was not
just about bailout but about the way forward out of the situation that
both the states and the Federal Government found themselves.
He said the President himself, before he was inaugurated, was aware
that some of the states were in a critical situation as regards
payment of workers' salaries because of the dwindling federal
revenue caused by the drop in oil prices.
The governor said that they proposed to the President that instead of
being given a bailout, the funds for projects that were done by their
states should be refunded.
According to him, if the affected states were able to get the money
owed them released, they could pay salaries without a bailout.
He said the governors also urged Buhari to help stretch the tenure of
loans owed by state governments from the current four to seven years
to about 20 years.
He argued that such extension would relieve the affected states and
they would be able to continue other business, including paying
salaries.
He added that they asked that the about $1.6bn first charge money
paid by NLNG be paid to the Federation Account instead of the
Federal Government.
This, he said, would allow the money to be shared amongst the three
tiers of government "so that we can also get money to do one or two
things."
He said, "Also, we urged the President to follow the constitution when
it comes to money sharing, Section 80 is very clear. That all money
should go to the Consolidated Revenue Account for the purpose, no
account should be kept anywhere because this is what the constitution
says.
"And Section 162 also is explanatory, that whatever is going to happen
to the money will be after sharing to the three tiers of government.
"That the NNPC or any other revenue generating agency should not have
the first line charges.
"So, Mr. President said there will be few committees headed by the
Vice-President that can discuss the way we can move forward within
the few days."
He regretted that states could not ask questions on the ECA.
The governor added, "For instance, before our group (Nigeria
Governors' Forum) was divided, we left $10.3bn in the ECA and we
expected the account to grow but as reported in our last meeting, the
account is now $2.6bn . The sharing was stopped in May 2013; so since
then, no kobo has been given to any state or local government.
"So, under which platform will you save the money? To save the money
is good. No matter how beautiful it is, if it does not have the
backing of the constitution, it is null and void.
"We are saying we are having issues, atimes, the economy will be up
and sometimes it will be down, what we are saying is for the President
to invoke sections 80 and 162 of the constitution.
"The truth is that if Mr. President will invoke these relevant
sections of the constitution where all the generating agencies
(NIMASA, NPA, NNPC, customs etc) will pay and remit the exact amount
into the consolidated revenue, we need not touch the oil money.
"The issue is the loss. We can have a good President today and
tomorrow you have a bad President. You can have a good President today
that will grow the account and tomorrow you will have a bad President
that will spend the money."
On insurgency in parts of the country, Yari said the President briefed
the governors on his meeting with the G-7 countries who agreed to
support Nigeria in its fight against terrorism.
He said Buhari had put a committee in place to assess the damage
done to infrastructure such as schools, hospitals, and bridges by
insurgents.
"We also raised concern about the dismantling of military checkpoints
on the highways, we are saying it was not timely.
"But Mr. President cited some incidents that happened at the military
checkpoints but where necessary, he has given the Chief of Army Staff
the permission that they can continue especially in the North,
South-East and the frontline states," he added.
The governors at the meeting were those of Rivers, Ogun, Imo,
Gombe, Benue, Delta, Niger, Kano, Katsina, Zamfara, Kogi, Borno and
Jigawa.
Others were those of Kebbi, Kwara, Taraba, Ekiti, Ondo, Kaduna, Oyo,
Osun, Edo, Anambra, Sokoto, Ebonyi, Lagos, Adamawa, Cross River, Akwa
Ibom and Yobe states.
Plateau and Bayelsa State governors were represented by their deputy governors.
Jonathan, others ready to defend themselves–PDP
The Peoples Democratic Party immediately responded to Buhari's
decision to recover the looted billions of dollars, saying Jonathan
and all those who served in his administration were ready to defend
their actions while in office.
It said through its National Publicity Secretary, Olisa Metuh,
that in looking for the funds, the President must not embark on a
witch-hunt .
Besides, the party said that the President must not use the action for
political gains.
The PDP said, "We welcome the action of the President to recover the
alleged looted funds. It is a welcome development and we must say that
all those who served under President Jonathan and the former President
himself , are ready to defend their actions while in office.
We however insist that the action must not be a witch-hunt . It must
not be for political gains and it must be in the interest of the
country.
"Apart from these , the step to be taken by the government must be
seen to be transparent by all. Enough of excuses from the government.
"Nigerians are tired of excuses. Let the Federal Government hit the
ground running and deliver on its electoral promises.''
Firstclassnewsline.net