House of Representatives has embarked on investigating the looted funds and assets recovered from politicians and public officers from 1999 to date. The total value of recovered funds and assets are said to be in the neighbourhood of $2 Trillion.
The investigation being carried out by the House Joint Committee on Public Accounts and Finance, is expected to among others, investigate whether any crimes have been committed in the course of the management and disbursement of funds recovered by the Federal Government in the last 12 years.
At the public hearing of the House Joint Committee on Public Accounts and Finance today, Tuesday, the House speaker, Yakubu Dogara stressed the need for the committee to ascertain the status of recovered public funds and assets from 1999 to date.
“It is common knowledge that there are a lot of conflicting reports and claims from various agencies of government concerning the status of the funds and assets recovered from some citizens and corporate entities by law enforcement agencies. As a Parliament, we cannot fold our arms and allow the confusion trailing the whereabouts of the recovered funds and assets to continue. This is why the House of Representatives resolved to mandate this Joint Committee to investigate the issue in the interest of accountability and transparency.”
He said that the investigation has become necessary in order to ascertain how resources are being appropriated, and that it is in line with the duties of the National Assembly as stated in the Constitution.
“We believe that as a Parliament, we owe the people of Nigeria the duty to ascertain the resources available to government and how they are being appropriated in their interest. This is in line with the exercise of our Constitutional powers in Sections 88 and 89 of the Nigerian Constitution, 1999 as amended.”
Speaker Dogara called on the stakeholders present to be patriotic, truthful and honourable in their submissions even as he advised the committee to handle the matter with utmost seriousness as it is capable of eroding the credibility of the present administration. [myad]
