Buhari vows to recover funds looted under Jonathan

President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday vowed to
recover billions of dollars stolen under the
administration of his immediate predecessor, Dr.
Goodluck Jonathan.
He said the Jonathan government threw the nation into
a financial crisis by throwing all financial and
administrative processes in parastatals and agencies
to “the dogs”
Promising that the era of impunity and financial
recklessness was over, the President said the next 90
days might be hard for the Federal Government and the
states.
“The next three months may be hard, but billions of
dollars can be recovered, and we will do our best,”
Buhari said in a statement made available to journalists
after his meeting with the 36 state governors in Abuja.
But he did not state how he would go about the
recovery of the looted funds.
Buhari regretted that the impunity, lack of
accountability and financial recklessness in the
management of national resources by the past
administration threw the country into a situation that is
worse than what happened in the Second Republic.
The President, in the statement by his Special Adviser
on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, added, “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 will do our
best to surmount them.”
He said that a comprehensive statement on the
economic and financial situation inherited by his
administration would be made public within the next
four weeks.
“We will try and put the system back into the right
position. What happened in the 2nd Republic has
apparently happened again, and even worse, but we will
restore sanity to the system,” Buhari assured the
governors.
It will be recalled Buhari toppled the Second Republic
government of President Shehu Shagari on December
31, 1983 on allegations of corruption and gross
mismanagement.
The President, according to the statement by Adesina,
expressed surprise that governors had been tolerating
the atrocities allegedly committed in the management
of the Excess Crude Account since 2011.
He then promised to tackle the issue decisively.
The President also declared that the payment of
national revenue into any account other than the
Federation Account was an abuse of the constitution.
He added that most of what he heard going on in
many agencies and corporations, particularly the
Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, were clearly
illegal.
On the refund of money spent on federal projects by
state governments, Buhari assured the governors that
the Federal Government would pay, but insisted that
due process must be followed.
The President said that special assistance would be
given the three North-East states badly affected by
the Boko Haram insurgency.
On an immediate lifeline for states that have yet to pay
their workers for months, the President said that a
committee headed by Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo
would look into the ECA and come up with an amount
that could be shared immediately.
The governors, led by their Chairman, Abdulaziz Yari of
Zamfara State, had presented a wish list to the
President.
The wish list included:
Obedience of extant Supreme Court ruling that all
money goes into the Consolidated Federation
Account;
An order from the President that all revenue
generating agencies must pay into the Consolidated
Federation Account;
Review of the Revenue Allocation Formula;
Refund of the monies expended by states on federal
projects;
A special consideration for the three states of the
North-East under Boko Haram infestation; and
Full details of the amounts that accrued into the
ECA from 2011 and how the money shrank without
official sharing.
As of May 15, 2015, only $2.79bn was left in the ECA.
FG owes N5.53tn, states; N658bn.
Before the statement by Adesina, the Chairman of the
Nigeria Governors’ Forum, Abdulaziz Yari, had told the
State House correspondents at a news conference that
even the Federal Government was currently battling
with domestic debts totalling N5.53tn.
Yari, who is also the governor of Zamfara State,
disclosed that all the 36 states and the Federal
Capital Territory, were owing N658bn.
He was joined at the briefing by his Bauchi and Abia
states counterparts, Muhammed Abubakar and Okezie
Ikpeazu.
Yari said, “At our meeting today (Tuesday), we
identified the problem and we are going to find a
solution.
“Right now, we cannot even pay salaries much less of
embarking on development projects. So, at least we
have to work faster and salvage the situation.
“I want you to note that it is not only the states. The
states’ debts are not as bad as that, we made it clear
to Mr. President that the total debts of 36 states and
FCT is N658bn but the domestic debts of the Federal
Government is N5.53tn, so is not equal.
“So, we appreciate the fact we are all in this problem.
The Federal Government cannot pay members of staff
of ministries, departments and agencies and states
cannot pay workers.”
The governor explained that the meeting with the
President was not just about bailout but about the way
forward out of the situation that both the states and
the Federal Government found themselves.
He said the President himself, before he was
inaugurated, was aware that some of the states were in
a critical situation as regards payment of workers’
salaries because of the dwindling federal revenue
caused by the drop in oil prices.
The governor said that they proposed to the President
that instead of being given a bailout, the funds for
projects that were done by their states should be
refunded.
According to him, if the affected states were able to get
the money owed them released, they could pay salaries
without a bailout.
He said the governors also urged Buhari to help stretch
the tenure of loans owed by state governments from
the current four to seven years to about 20 years.
He argued that such extension would relieve the
affected states and they would be able to continue
other business, including paying salaries.
He added that they asked that the about $1.6bn first
charge money paid by NLNG be paid to the Federation
Account instead of the Federal Government.
This, he said, would allow the money to be shared
amongst the three tiers of government “so that we can
also get money to do one or two things.”
He said, “Also, we urged the President to follow the
constitution when it comes to money sharing, Section
80 is very clear. That all money should go to the
Consolidated Revenue Account for the purpose, no
account should be kept anywhere because this is what
the constitution says.
“And Section 162 also is explanatory, that whatever is
going to happen to the money will be after sharing to
the three tiers of government.
“That the NNPC or any other revenue generating
agency should not have the first line charges.
“So, Mr. President said there will be few committees
headed by the Vice-President that can discuss the
way we can move forward within the few days.”
He regretted that states could not ask questions on the
ECA.
The governor added, “For instance, before our group
(Nigeria Governors’ Forum) was divided, we left
$10.3bn in the ECA and we expected the account to
grow but as reported in our last meeting, the account
is now $2.6bn . The sharing was stopped in May 2013;
so since then, no kobo has been given to any state or
local government.
“So, under which platform will you save the money? To
save the money is good. No matter how beautiful it is,
if it does not have the backing of the constitution, it is
null and void.
“We are saying we are having issues, atimes, the
economy will be up and sometimes it will be down,
what we are saying is for the President to invoke
sections 80 and 162 of the constitution.
“The truth is that if Mr. President will invoke these
relevant sections of the constitution where all the
generating agencies (NIMASA, NPA, NNPC, customs
etc) will pay and remit the exact amount into the
consolidated revenue, we need not touch the oil money.
“The issue is the loss. We can have a good President
today and tomorrow you have a bad President. You can
have a good President today that will grow the account
and tomorrow you will have a bad President that will
spend the money.”
On insurgency in parts of the country, Yari said the
President briefed the governors on his meeting with the
G-7 countries who agreed to support Nigeria in its
fight against terrorism.
He said Buhari had put a committee in place to
assess the damage done to infrastructure such as
schools, hospitals, and bridges by insurgents.
“We also raised concern about the dismantling of
military checkpoints on the highways, we are saying it
was not timely.
“But Mr. President cited some incidents that happened
at the military checkpoints but where necessary, he has
given the Chief of Army Staff the permission that they
can continue especially in the North, South-East and
the frontline states,” he added.
The governors at the meeting were those of Rivers,
Ogun, Imo, Gombe, Benue, Delta, Niger, Kano, Katsina,
Zamfara, Kogi, Borno and Jigawa.
Others were those of Kebbi, Kwara, Taraba, Ekiti, Ondo,
Kaduna, Oyo, Osun, Edo, Anambra, Sokoto, Ebonyi,
Lagos, Adamawa, Cross River, Akwa Ibom and Yobe
states.
Plateau and Bayelsa State governors were represented
by their deputy governors.
Jonathan, others ready to defend themselves –PDP
The Peoples Democratic Party immediately responded
to Buhari’s decision to recover the looted billions of
dollars, saying Jonathan and all those who served in
his administration were ready to defend their actions
while in office.
It said through its National Publicity Secretary, Olisa
Metuh, that in looking for the funds, the President
must not embark on a witch-hunt .
Besides, the party said that the President must not use
the action for political gains.
The PDP said, “We welcome the action of the President
to recover the alleged looted funds. It is a welcome
development and we must say that all those who
served under President Jonathan and the former
President himself , are ready to defend their actions
while in office.
“We however insist that the action must not be a
witch-hunt . It must not be for political gains and it
must be in the interest of the country.
“Apart from these , the step to be taken by the
government must be seen to be transparent by all.
Enough of excuses from the government.
“Nigerians are tired of excuses. Let the Federal
Government hit the ground running and deliver on its
electoral promises.’’