No One Will Loot Recovered Funds – Adeosun
FROM COBHAM NSA, ABUJA –
There is no chance for anyone to loot cash recoveries made in the on-going anti-corruption war by government agencies, Minister of finance, Kemi Adeosun has assured.
She said Nigerians should exercise no fears as the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration has already set machinery in motion, including opening a single account, to reconcile all recovered funds to avoid possible re-looting within the system
“We have a recovery account. All the recovered monies go into the recovery account which we reconcile,” Adeosun said at a media briefing on the just-concluded World Bank – IMF meetings in Washington DC, United States.
The Minister explained that government is putting in place measures to ensure effective and real controls over the recovery processes, adding, “That is why we created a central recovery account. What we also discovered is that so many agencies are recovering and we must keep and eyes on those recoveries, otherwise there is the risk of re-looting.”
“So, all the agencies that recover send us their returns monthly and then we sweep it into a central account which is kept by the Accountant General, so that we can reconcile”, she said.
According to her, “Even some of the cash that is recovered, we have to make sure it goes into the bank. You’d be surprised; some agencies will recover cash, and they think it is evidence, and we are saying no, its money, put it in the bank.
“This is something that is new and I think it is a good thing. As we recover more, we get better at it. It is a new thing in Nigeria.”
Adeosun said with effective deployment of recovered monies into the budget, its implementation will also get better for effective service delivery to Nigerians, stressing, “Now, in the budget, there was the provision that some recovered monies would go into it and that goes into specific projects in the budget. Any excess recoveries we have to wait and take some decisions. So far, we have recovered up to the amount we are expecting in the budget.
Interestingly, figures released by the acting Chairman of EFCC, Ibrahim Magu confirmed that the Commission has recovered over N17 billion in the last four months.
