The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, yesterday in Abuja gave a breakdown of how N1.3 trillion was stolen in 7 years. The money was stolen between 2006 and 2013 by 55 Nigerians.
Out of the amount, N146.84 billion was allegedly stolen by 15 former state governors, N7 billion by four former ministers while N14 billion was stolen by 12 former public servants both at the federal and state levels. Also, N524 billion was allegedly stolen by eight people in the banking industry while 11 businessmen allegedly stole N653billion.
Alhaji Mohammed said using the World Bank’s rates, the stolen fund could have provided 635.18kilometres of roads, built 20,062 units of two-bedroom houses, 36 ultra modern hospitals, 183 schools and educated 3,974 children from primary to tertiary levels at 25.24 million per child.
Breakdown of stolen funds by 55 people from 2006-2013
Categories No of Cases Amount Involved
Ex – governors 15 146,840,800,000.00
Ex- ministers 4 7,050,000,000.00
Ex – legislators 5 8,350,000,000.00
Ex- public servants 7 (Federal) 6,906,600,000.00
Ex – public servants 5 (State) 7,275,000,000.00
Banking industry 8 524,560,000,000.00
Businessmen 11 653,150,000,000.00
Grand total 55 N1,354,132,400,000.00
Alhaji Mohammed said: “This is the money that a few people, just 55 in number, allegedly stole within a period of just eight years and instead of a national outrage, all we hear are these statements that the government is fighting only the opposition, or that the government is engaging in vendetta.”
The minister who vowed that nobody who had stolen public funds would go scot-free irrespective of their political, religious or tribal leanings said: “Whether you belong to the All Progressives Congress (APC), Peoples Democratic Party(PDP), Social Democratic Party (SDP) or Labour Party, if you have stolen public funds, you must not go scot-free. We must go after them and block all the leakages.”
On the $2.1 billion arms deal, Mohammed alleged that funds meant to fight terrorism were deployed to another fight which was that of keeping the then President Goodluck Jonathan and his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP ) in power at all costs.
He said: “So far, based on what we know, no one who has been accused of partaking in the sharing of the funds has denied receiving money. “All we have heard from them are ludicrous reasons why they partook in sharing of the money. One said he collected N4.5 billion for spiritual purposes, another said he received N2.1 billion for publicity, while yet another said he got N13 billion to pay someone else for the Maritime University land.”
He continued: “Based on these revelations, should we now fold our hands and allow these people to go away with public funds? Is anyone thinking about the innocent soldiers who lost their lives just because they did not get the necessary weapons to fight the terrorists? What about the families left behind by these soldiers who were sent to their early graves because of the misappropriation of these funds? What about those who lost their means of livelihood after the terrorists overran their towns and villages? What of the millions of Nigerians, especially women and children, who are now living in internally displaced persons’ camps? Is it not clear that the cruel fate that has befallen these unfortunate people is a direct result of the misuse of the funds meant to fight the terrorists?”
According to the minister, corruption stifles economic growth, hinders the fight against poverty, leads to decay in infrastructure and reduces educational standards, lowers life expectancy, stunts the fight against maternal and infant mortality. Alhaji Mohammed condemned the erroneous notion that the war against corruption is a vendetta against the opposition, and that it is one-sided. President Muhammadu Buhari is leading this fight by example and right from the front.
“His unparalleled integrity, his uncommon love of country and his undiluted dedication to service all put him in good stead to wage this war, and we must all support him and own the war in order to ensure its success. This is not Buhari’s war. This is not APC’s war. This is Nigeria’s war,” he said.
