Recovered loot used to fund budget, says AGF, Malami

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.”