President Muhammadu Buhari has said that the prosecution of persons who have stolen national resources will begin in a matter of weeks. Buhari made this known at a meeting with members of the National Peace Committee led by Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Tuesday. He declared that his administration was irrevocably committed to doing all within its powers to break the vicious cycle of corruption, unemployment and insecurity in Nigeria.
“Nigeria has to break this vicious cycle before we can make progress,’’ the president said. He added that his administration was diligently getting facts and figures pertaining to the nation’s stolen funds, before proceeding to the prosecution of identified culprits.
Buhari told members of his committee that the Federal Government, under his leadership, would not only ask for the return of stolen funds that had been stashed in foreign banks, but would also ensure that those who stole the funds were put on trial in Nigeria.
He also said that as part of its actions to address the national problems it inherited, his administration was reorganising Nigeria’s revenue generating institutions.
He explained that a single treasury account had been established for all Federal revenue to ensure greater probity, transparency and accountability in the collection, disbursement and utilisation of national funds.
“We have really degenerated as a country. Our national institutions, including the military, which did wonderfully on foreign missions in the past, have been compromised.
“But we are doing something about it. The military is now retraining and morale has been resuscitated. As Petroleum Minister under Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo in the 1970s, I could not travel abroad until I had taken a memo to the Federal Executive Council asking for estacode. Now, everybody does what he wants. That is why security wise and economically, we’re in trouble,’’ the president further said.
According to him, those who have stolen the national wealth will be in court in a matter of weeks and Nigerians will know those who have short-changed them. Abubakar and members of his committee had urged the Federal Government to be guided by the rule of law in its fight against corruption. Members of the National Peace Committee who accompanied Abubakar on the visit were Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah, His Eminence, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar, the Sultan of Sokoto, Cardinal John Onaiyekan and Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, President, Christian Association of Nigeria.
Others were retired Justice Rose Ukeje, Prof. Ameze Guobadia, Vanguard Newspaper Publisher, Sam Amuka, Dame Priscilla Kuye, and Sen. Ben Obi. The others were Dr Yunusa Tanko, Dr Arthur-Martin Aginam and Archbishop Nicholas Okoh, Primate of the Anglican Church of Nigeria. The National Peace Committee, formed before the 2015 general elections, was granted permission by the president to transform to a National Peace Council.
