FG: We’ll prosecute indicted looters

The permanent secretary of the ministry Alhaji Abdullahi Ahmed Yola said this while addressing State House journalists yesterday after briefing President Muhammadu Buhari on the activities of the ministry. Responding to a question on whether his ministry was involved in the efforts by the government to receive the looted funds, Yola said the ministry would […]

The permanent secretary of the ministry Alhaji Abdullahi Ahmed Yola said this while addressing State House journalists yesterday after briefing President Muhammadu Buhari on the activities of the ministry.
Responding to a question on whether his ministry was involved in the efforts by the government to receive the looted funds, Yola said the ministry would play its part of prosecuting all those found culpable. 
Yola however said his ministry had yet to receive the report of the investigation on the matter. 
“If the ministry receives investigations concluded by the responsible agencies, we will play our part. We will play our part with the prosecution of whoever has been found wanting, and the security agencies have concluded investigation on that. At the moment the ministry is not in receipt of any report concerning that,” he said.
“As you know, rule of law is one of the cardinal policies of this administration and we’ve given him (Buhari) a rundown of what we’ve been doing from 2011 till now. We also pledged to him to continue cooperating with him to ensure that all the promises he has made to Nigerians as far as they relate to rule of law are achieved,” he said. 
President Buhari had, at a meeting with state governors on June 23, vowed to recover from all government officials who abused their offices in the recent past, all the billions of funds stolen.
“There are financial and administrative instructions in every government parastatal and agency. But all these were thrown to the dogs in the past. Honestly, our problems are great, but we’ll do our best to surmount them. The next three months may be hard, but billions of dollars can be recovered, and we’ll do our best,” he said.
The president, who had earlier said that he met a virtually empty treasury, also told the governors that a comprehensive statement on the economic and financial situation inherited by his government would be made available to Nigerians by July 21.  He had also disclosed that his government had received firm assurances of cooperation from the United States and other nations on the recovery and repatriation of funds stolen from the country, saying it was now up to Nigeria to provide the international community with the facts and figures needed to drive the recovery effort.
“In the next three months, our administration will be busy getting those facts and the figures to help us recover our stolen funds in foreign countries,” Buhari had stated this while meeting with the northern traditional rulers’ council on June 23.