Recovered loot used to fund budget, says AGF, Malami – TheNigerialawyer

All the funds recovered from corrupt individuals were being used
to fund the national budget and provide infrastructure in the
country, the Federal Government said in Abuja on Tuesday.

The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice,
Abubakar Malami (SAN), represented by the Special Assistant to the
President on Justice Reforms and International Relations, Juliet
Nwagwu, said this at the 10th annual conference of the Centre for
Peace and Environmental Justice with the theme, ‘Insecurity and
corruption: Implication for development in Africa.’

At the event, the National Coordinator of CEPEJ, Sheriff Mulade,
commended the Federal Government on the recoveries made so far and
urged the government to use the funds to provide infrastructure and
the basic needs of Nigerians.

The AGF said, “Permit me to say that no government has taken
steps like the government of President Buhari to recover funds of
illicit origin. These funds have also been paid into the federation
account and are being used to fund the national budget.

“For the first time in 2017, the President authorised that there
should be a revenue item in the Appropriation Act that refers to
the item called recovered asset as a revenue item in all budget
process.”

The minister said the government, in 2015, initiated six bills
to help the administration in its anti-corruption crusade.

The Director-General, National Orientation Agency, Garba Abari,
represented by the Director (Documentation, Translation and
Publication), Dr Davidson Aminu, urged Nigerians to join hands with
the Federal Government to tackle the problems of corruption and
insecurity.

He said, “If we must develop as a country, if we must be at par
with other countries, collectively, we must fight corruption. On
the other hand, the problem of insecurity remains one that we must
fight collectively.

“If there is insecurity in the country, foreign investors will
be scared away. Do we close our eyes and continue to accommodate
these two menaces which are proportional by the moment? Government
is doing a lot to see that these two menaces are extirpated from
the country but then, this requires a collective responsibility to
address. The government cannot do it alone.”