I will recover loot in 3 months —Buhari

By EMMA OKEREH and CHRIS EMETOH, Abuja

President Muhammadu Buhari, yesterday, vowed to recover funds stolen by government officials who abused their offices in the recent past.

Buhari, according to a statement issued by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, spoke at a meeting with the state governors in the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

He also told the governors that days of impunity, lack of accountability and fiscal recklessness in the management of national resources are over in Nigeria.

The president insisted that systemic leakages would be stopped.

“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.

“The next three months may be hard, but billions of dollars can be recovered and we will do our best.”

Expressing surprise that the governors had tolerated the atrocities allegedly committed with the Excess Crude Account since 2011, President Buhari promised to tackle the issue decisively.

He declared that the payment of national revenue into any account other than the Federation Account was an abuse of the constitution, adding that what he had heard about activities in many agencies and corporations, particularly the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), was clearly illegal.

On the refund of monies spent on federal projects by state governments, President Buhari assured the governors that the Federal Government will pay, but insisted that due process must be followed.

He promised special assistance for the three North Eastern states that were badly affected by the Boko Haram insurgency.

He also said that a comprehensive statement on the economic and financial situation inherited by his administration will be made known to the nation 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.”

On an immediate lifeline for states that owe salaries running into several months, President Buhari said that a committee headed by Vice President YemiOsinbajo will look at the Excess Crude Account and see what can be shared immediately.

The governors led by the Chairman of the Governors’ Forum, AbdulazizYari of Zamfara State, according to the statement, had presented a wish list to the president that included: obedience of extant Supreme Court ruling that all monies go 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; full details of the amounts that accrued into the Excess Crude Account from 2011, and how the money miraculously shrank without official sharing.

Among the governors present in the chamber when the meeting started yesterday are Emmanuel Udom (Akwa Ibom), Bindow Jibrilla (Adamawa), Samuel Ortom (Benue), Kashim Shettima (Borno), Prof. Ben Ayade (Cross River), Ifeanyi Okowa (Delta), Dave Umahi (Ebonyi), Ibrahim Dankwambo (Gombe) and Rochas Okorocha (Imo).

Others are Alhaji Badaru Abubakar (Jigawa), Nasir El-Rufai (Kaduna), Dr Abdullahi Ganduje (Kano), Aminu Masari (Katsina), Atiku Bagudu (Kebbi), Abdulfatah Ahmed (Kwara), Akinwunmi Ambode (Lagos), Umaru Al-Makura (Nasarawa), Alhaji Abubakar Sani Bello (Niger), Ibikunle Amosun (Ogun), Abiola Ajimobi (Oyo).

Also at the meeting are Nyesom Wike (Rivers), Aminu Tambuwal (Sokoto), Darius Ishaku (Taraba), Ibrahim Gaidam (Yobe), Abdulaziz Yari (Zamfara), Willie Obiano (Anambra), Adams Oshiomhole (Edo), Ayo Fayose (Ekiti), Idris Wada (Kogi), Olusegun Mimiko (Ondo) and Rauf Aragbesola (Osun).

Plateau and Bayelsa States were represented by their deputy governors.