Wanted: A PTF model for recovered loot

One of President Muhammadu Buhari’s highest selling points, as a candidate, was undoubtedly his record as the Chairman of the PTF. As a special intervention project, the Petroleum Special Trust Fund or PTF was a totally novel initiative, unheard of in any part of our continent. General Buhari, as he was then, was appointed by […]

One of President Muhammadu Buhari’s highest selling points, as a candidate, was undoubtedly his record as the Chairman of the PTF. As a special intervention project, the Petroleum Special Trust Fund or PTF was a totally novel initiative, unheard of in any part of our continent.
General Buhari, as he was then, was appointed by the late General Sani Abacha to head the fund, and intervene in some key sectors of our national life which desperately needed such attention. Many saw it as an attempt by the military regime to redeem itself in the face of accusations of corruption and human rights abuses.
Whatever was the perception for or against the fund, the intervention programme proved its worth by delivering much needed services across the length and breadth of the country. Of course, there were critics who claimed that the PTF pursued a regional agenda by sitting more development projects in the North or by intervening more in Northern-based areas that needed such, but informed analysis containing facts and figures from the PTF have long proved these people wrong.
As the agency of government that did so much and in so little time, it had shown what was achievable when people of integrity are in charge and Nigerian professionals are entrusted with the task. Additionally the PTF story proved to Nigerians Muhammadu Buhari’s trustworthiness and patriotism. Now, it is my humble opinion that PMB should invoke the spirit of his star project to assuage the feelings  of Nigerians.
Already the president himself had asked Nigerians to bear patiently, the present difficulties they are experiencing. He also recently called on clerics to help him urge Nigerians to be more persevering of the hardships being experienced as a result of the mess he inherited from the previous government.
But we must not delude ourselves that such platitudes will work, when people are getting hungrier and children are getting sent home because parents have no salaries to pay school fees. We must go for something more tangible and real. And this is why a PTF-like model is needed to intervene in the lives of Nigerians. Where, you may ask, will the money be sourced to fund the new PTF? My simple suggestion is the stolen money being recovered from corrupt politicians, civil servants and former military top brass. This administration should establish a Recovered Loot Special Trust Fund and channel all stolen money returned by corrupt Nigerians there. Those already in government custody and those being awaited must all be deposited in the same fund.
Now that the government has done the undeserved courtesy of hiding the names of these treasury looters, the least we expect of them is to hasten the return of these monies, wherever in the world they are kept. President Buhari should then appoint an honest and trustworthy Nigerian to head this fund. This honest gentleman or woman must be given clear-cut areas of intervention to work on. Topmost on the list of these priority areas must be the fight against hunger.
As a military ruler, PMB intervened in the fight against hunger when he ensured the provision of essential commodities to Nigerians at subsidised rates. This new hunger calls for a re-play of that noble effort.
And as the former head of a similar agency, the president is best placed to brief and groom the RLTP boss on how to run the new interventionist agency. With any hope the RLTP might make Nigerians smile before the main economy is put on track.