Lai Mohammed Says There Was Primitive, Mindless Looting Under Jonathan, $151m and N8bn
The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has asserted that there was mindless looting during the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan.
Mohammed’s claim was contained in a statement issued by his Media Assistant, Segun Adeyemi.
The Minister stressed that despite Nigerians refusal to accept that the treasury was looted during the last administration, recent discoveries have proven that.
According to the Minister, three sources through the help of whistleblowers have assisted the federal government to recover the sums of $151m and N8bn.
Mohammed said, “When we told Nigerians that there was a primitive and mindless looting of the national treasury under the last administration, some people called us liars.
“The federal government’s whistle-blower policy has started yielding fruit as it has so far led to the recovery of $151m and N8bn in looted funds.”
He revealed that the recovered monies were not part of the $9.8m and £74, 0000 allegedly found in the house of Andrew Yakubu, former group managing director (GMD) of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
He added that the monies were recovered from “sources who gave actionable information to the office of the minister of justice and attorney-general of the federation.
“The biggest amount of $136,676,600.51 was recovered from an account in a commercial bank, where the money was kept under an apparently fake account name, followed by N7bn and $15m from another person and N1bn from yet another.
“When we told Nigerians that there was a primitive and mindless looting of the national treasury under the last administration, some people called us liars. Well, the whistle-blower policy is barely two months old and Nigerians have started feeling its impact, seeing how a few people squirreled away public funds. It is doubtful if any economy in the world will not feel the impact of such mind-boggling looting of the treasury as was experienced in Nigeria.
“Yet whatever has been recovered so far, including the $9.2m by the EFCC, is just a tip of the iceberg.”
He called on Nigerians with useful information on stolen funds to continue to provide the authorities with such information, saying confidentiality would be maintained.
He further reminded Nigerians of the financial reward of the policy, saying “If there is a voluntary return of stolen or concealed public funds or assets on the account of the information provided, the whistleblower may be entitled to anywhere between 2.5 percent (minimum) and 5.0 percent (maximum) of the total amount recovered.”
