In a country where snakes, monkeys and termites have been accused of either swallowing or tampering with huge amounts of government money, social commentators and public affairs analysts are wondering what might have happened to the returned stolen funds under former President Muhammadu Buhari which have reportedly vanished from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
According to the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), all the stolen public funds recovered between 2016 and 2019 by the immediate past government of Muhammadu Buhari are missing from the Central Bank of Nigeria.
The group revealed this on Wednesday afternoon via its verified X-page, stressing that the disappearance of the missing looted funds was noticed when the management of the apex bank could not account for them.
SERAP through its X handle wrote: “BREAKING: Recovered stolen public funds between 2016 and 2019 are reportedly missing from the Central Bank of Nigeria [CBN]. The Auditor-General of the Federation wants the CBN to account for the money.”
BREAKING: Recovered stolen public funds between 2016 and 2019 are reportedly missing from the Central Bank of Nigeria [CBN]. The Auditor-General of the Federation wants the CBN to account for the money.
— SERAP (@SERAPNigeria) February 14, 2024
It could be recalled that the Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA Resource Centre) had earlier said it disagreed with the Nigerian government on the amount of looted funds the latter said it recovered from 2015 to 2022
The Buhari Government disclosed that over one billion dollars were recovered as looted funds by the administration within the period of seven and half years.
The former Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, who made this known while briefing newsmen said $1 billion in looted funds had so far been recovered by the Buhari-led administration.
Commenting on the issue of looted funds, Malami stated that the funds had been deployed to various sectors of the economy, including poverty alleviation.
However, Mr Olanrewaju Suraju, Chairman of HEDA Resource Centre had disclosed that the figure published by the government was not accurate.
He said the only thing that was correct about President Buhari’s administration was the inconsistency in the stating and flaunting of figures, especially regarding asset recovery.
Suraju lamented that the government’s asset recovery programme had not been coordinated.
He explained that a serious government that values statistics and data could have been more constructive and responsible to provide data that covers international recoveries and local recoveries.
Sahara Reporters
