President Muhammadu Buhari has given directives for the immediate recovery of all government assets still in the possession of officials who served in the previous administration.
The move is part of the present administration’s anti corruption war which is aimed at ensuring prudence and proper management public funds and properties.
Confirming the directive to State House Correspondents Sunday at the presidential villa, senior special assistant to the President on media and publicity Garba Shehu said even in the presidency, there were cases where a few former officers are still in possession of properties that they would have since handed back to government.
Over the past weeks, President Buhari has made it clear that his government intends to go after and reclaim as much of Nigeria’s stolen resources as possible.
President Buhari also has disclosed that recovering most government looted funds would require crossing the shores of the country. The President has assured that America, Britain and other foreign countries have expressed support in the fight against corruption.
Sources close to the Presidency have revealed that a number of former government officials are still in possession of the vehicles, buildings, generator sets and other entitlements that came with their previous positions.
New Telegraph learnt that despite vacating their offices almost three months ago, many are yet to return these government properties.
“To this effect, government is believed to have set up a committee made up civil servants and security agencies to recover unreturned public assets from the political appointees who just left office,” an official told our correspondent.
According to Shehu: “That is precisely the case,” he said. “Even here at the Villa, there are cars and other property belonging to the government which are yet to be returned.”
Speaking further on the issue, Shehu said the Buhari administration would soon begin to demand for the return of these assets. He emphasised that the aim was not to embarrass anyone but to return properties to government.
“The properties belong to the Nigerian people,” he said. “We are not trying to humiliate anyone by asking them to return their cars or houses.”
When asked whether the state and local governments were facing similar challenges with retrieving government property from their predecessors, Malam Shehu said that he was not in a position to confirm or deny this. He, however, added that he would not be surprised if that was the case, as this attitude of holding on to government property even after leaving office must be a natural outcome of the culture of impunity that has prevailed in Nigeria over the past years of PDP rule.
“But change has come,” he said. “That is why we have to do things differently now.”
He reiterated President Buhari’s commitment to running an austere government that will save the Nigerian people millions in public funds.
“Imagine how much Nigeria will save by retrieving and re-using these government properties instead of purchasing new ones for new government officials,” he said.
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