The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Muhammed, on Tuesday said that the N3.4 trillion recovered within one year of the Muhammadu Buhari-led administration was just a tip of the iceberg.
The minister’s statement suggested that more loots recovery would be announced in due course.
The minister also said Nigerians expect the All Progressives Congress (APC) government to swiftly address the myriads of problems bedeviling the country because he said too much during the campaigns.
Muhammed was the National Publicity Secretary of the APC until his appointment.
“As you all know, last Saturday we released the interim report on financial and assets recoveries, which showed, among others, that the federal government made cash recoveries totaling N78,325,354,631.82; $185,119,584.61; 3,508,355.46 Pounds Sterling and 11,250 Euros from 29 May 2015 to 25 May 2016. I can tell you that this is just a tip of the iceberg as far as financial and assets recoveries are concerned,” he said.
According to the minister: “It was corruption that ensured that while oil was selling for over 100 dollars per barrel, the country had nothing to show for the windfall; it was because of corruption that even though the national budget has increased from less than a trillion in 1999 to over six trillion in 2016, poverty has grown almost at the same rate that the budget has increased; It was corruption that gave Nigerians darkness, instead of light, while successive governments pumped millions of dollars into the power sector.”
Mohammed stated these while speaking at the inaugural Buharimeter town hall meeting organised by the Center for Democracy and Development in partnership with Department for International Development (DFID) and Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA).
The programme is anchored by five ministers including the Minister for Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Raji Fashola, Minister of Environment, Amina Mohammed, Minister for Budget and National Planning, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma, and the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh.
Mohammed who admitted that the APC administration had not met all its targets in the last one year, assured that the government was on track and would not lose focus on its campaign promises.
He noted that the APC anchored its campaign promises on three broad areas of corruption, security and the quest to revamp the country’s economy.
Speaking on the state of insecurity, Mohammed said the Boko Haram insurgents which are one of the most daunting security challenges the country faced has receded as a result of the administration’s efforts at curbing the menace.
“Today, it is fast receding from the headlines as the administration has decisively tackled the insurgency. Of course this did not happen by accident. It was the product of purposeful, credible and courageous leadership by President Muhammadu Buhari,” he said.
Mohammed also revealed the government’s grand plan to provide free hot meals, on daily basis, this year for 5.5 million Nigerian primary school pupils.
The palliatives would be provided under the N500 billion social intervention programme billed to commence on Saturday, June 11.
Mohammed told the gathering that government was set to finally fulfill the change the public had yeaned for through the introduction of Social Investment Programmes which government intends to roll out in the coming weeks.
He said apart from the provision of daily free meals in primary schools, government will also initiate a support grant for 100,000 tertiary students this year under the educational development programme called ‘’Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics’’ (STEM).
The first roll out of the nationwide intervention scheme will see the hoisting of an internet portal npower.gov.ng which will start taking applications from the public for the employment of 500,000 under the direct teacher jobs scheme.
The final aspects of the scheme include the Conditional Cash Transfer that pays N5,000 monthly to one million Nigerians and the Micro-Credit Scheme to benefit more than 1.5 million Nigerians.
’’Let me assure Nigerians that while there is still much work to be done. This administration neither lacks the political will nor the discipline and the determination to fulfill its electoral promises and take Nigeria to greater heights. The Change we promised is real,” Mohammed said.
According to him government has sufficiently fulfilled its three broad campaign promises to the public by tackling insecurity, fighting corruption and revamping the economy since it was elected to office on May 29, 2015
No comments:
Post a Comment