By Vivian Okejeme Abuja
Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN, has disclosed that President Muhammadu Buhari had directed all relevant agencies to compile names of all looters
This is with a view to promptly enforcing the judgement of a Federal High Court in Lagos ordering the government to release information about the names of high-ranking public officials from whom public funds were recovered
The court also ordered the government to tell Nigerians the circumstances under which funds were recovered, as well as the exact amount of funds recovered from each public official
Malami made the disclosure onloan of about N338 billion was disbursed to states
The term of the loan was 20-year and the purpose of the loan was to help states facing fi scal strain meet outstanding salary obligations
Interest rates of 9% was approved by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)
Th is was swiftly followed by the N575 billion restructuring programme bond
The federal government negotiated this debt package through the Debt Management Offi ce to allow states convert high interest bank debt into a 20-year tenured debt with interest rates set at 1483%
Again, In July 2015, the federal government remitted approximately N92
18 billion to states from dividends worth $21 billion paid to the centre by Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas Company (NLNG)
In July 2016, the federal government endorsed the allocation of N36bn from solid minerals savings to states as part of the routine monthly FAAC disbursements
A total of N1173billion was also disbursed to states, an amount taken from excess revenue generated from Petroleum Profit Tax (PPT)
The sum, ordinarily, should go into the Excess Crude Account, but it was speedily distributed between the federal and state governments
In all, a total of N175 trillion has was disbursed to states as extra-statutory fund with the money spent without the state governors properly accounting for it
By Vivian Okejeme Abuja Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN, has disclosed that President Muhammadu Buhari had directed all relevant agencies to compile names of all looters
This is with a view to promptly enforcing the judgement of a Federal High Court in Lagos ordering the government to release information about the names of high-ranking public offi cials from whom public funds were recovered
Th e court also ordered the government to tell Nigerians the circumstances under which funds were recovered, as well as the exact amount of funds recovered from each public offi cial
Malami made the disclosure on Wednesday during a meeting at his offi ce in Abuja with a delegation from the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP)
Th e government’s position was contained in a statement yesterday by SERAP’s Executive Director, Adetokunbo Mumuni
Mumuni said: “We had a very productive meeting with Mr Malami, discussing among other critical issues the need for the government to obey the judgement delivered in July by Hon Justice Hadiza Rabiu Shagari following a Freedom of Information suit number: FHC/CS/964/2016brought by SERAP
“Mr Malami informed us that President Buhari has directed the Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Finance, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Off ences Commission (ICPC) and other relevant agencies involved in the recovery of looted funds to promptly put the documents together with a view to fully and promptly enforcing the judgement by Justice Shagari
“We appreciate the opportunity to meet with the Attorney-General of the Federation and look forward to working with him as the government strives to enforce this very important judgement
“We hope that the implementation of the judgement will now happen sooner rather than later
We believe that eff ectively implementing the judgment will be a victory for the rule of law, show the way forward in the fight against corruption and impunity of perpetrators in the country, as well as demonstrate Buhari’s commitment to tackling the problem of grand corruption
” The suit, instituted by SERAP, followed disclosure last year by the federal government of funds recovered from some high-ranking public officials and private individuals
In her judgement delivered on July 5, Justice Shagari agreed with SERAP that “the federal government has legally binding obligations to tell Nigerians the names of all suspected looters of the public treasury past and present
” The Federal Ministry of Information and Culture and the Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, were joined as defendants in the suit
And in a quick response to the judgement same day, Malami told journalists in Abuja that government was in agreement with the ruling and would implement the order “as long
