Buhari: Trial of Those Who Looted State's Resources Start in Weeks

 

President Muhammadu Buhari has declared that the prosecution of persons who have stolen national resources will begin in a matter of weeks.

 

Speaking at a meeting with members of the National Peace Committee led by Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar in the Presidential Villa, President Buhari 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, adding that his administration was diligently getting  facts and figures pertaining to the nation's stolen funds, before proceeding to the prosecution of identified culprits.

 

A statement by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr Femi Adesina said Buhari told Abdulsalami and 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.

 

The president also said that as part of  actions to address the national problems it inherited, his administration was reorganising Nigeria's revenue generating institutions.

 

Buhari 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.”