President Muhammadu Buhari on Sunday failed to give
specific details of recovered loot as part of his anti-
corruption war during his Democracy Day speech,
consequently reneging on an earlier promise he made
to that effect.
Mr. Buhari had on May 14 said in London that he
would personally provide specific details of all
recovered stolen public funds because he believed that
what Nigerians were being fed through the media were
not detailed enough.
“So far, what has come out, what has been recovered
in whatever currency from each ministries,
departments and individuals, I intend on the 29th to
speak on this because all Nigerians are getting from
the mass media because of the number of people
arrested either by the EFCC, DSS. But we want to make
a comprehensive report on the 29th,” Mr. Buhari said
while attending the anti-corruption summit in London.
But during his nationwide broadcast on Sunday
morning, the president only repeated previous claims
that his administration was grappling with
bureaucratic hurdles that make it difficult for stolen
assets to be recovered from foreign jurisdictions.
“We are also engaged in making recoveries of stolen
assets some of which are in different jurisdictions. The
processes of recovery can be tedious and time
consuming, but today I can confirm that thus far:
significant amount of assets have been recovered. A
considerable portion of these are at different stages of
recovery.
Rather than personally speak on the matter and
provide specific details as promised, Mr. Buhari only
said he had directed the Ministry of Information to
periodically publish details on the assets recovered so
far.
“Full details of the status and categories of the assets
will now be published by the Ministry of Information
and updated periodically. When forfeiture formalities
are completed these monies will be credited to the
treasury and be openly and transparently used in
funding developmental projects and the public will be
informed,” Mr. Buhari said.
Based on the President’s May 14 promise, millions of
Nigerians had on Sunday morning stayed glued to their
radio and TV for the Democracy Day speech.
Some of them said they were dissappointed that Mr.
Buhari failed to keep his promise.
The president and his government have of recent come
under pressure to publicly substantiate his claims that
billions of dollars have been recovered through the
administration’s intensified war against graft.
Meanwhile, Mr. Buhari repeated his ministers’ claim
that the administration had been able to successfully
eliminate 43,000 ‘ghost’ workers that were costing the
government N4.2 billion every month from the federal
payroll.
“An important first step has been to get our
housekeeping right. So we have reduced the
extravagant spending of the past. We started boldly
with the treasury single account, stopping the leakages
in public expenditure.
“In addition, we will save Twenty-Three Billion Naira
per annum from official travelling and sitting
allowances alone,” Mr. Buhari said.
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