Provide details of funds recovered, Niger lawmakers tell Gov. Bello

The Niger State House of Assembly has demanded the executive arm of government to furnish it with details of funds allegedly recovered from past political office holders in the state.

The House in a unanimous decision on Tuesday, said the details should include the exact amount recovered and the names of those that refunded the money.

The decision of the Assembly was a follow-up to a similar call by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state asking the Governor Abubakar Sani Bello-led administration to make public the names of those that had refunded stolen money to the state.

Before travelling out of the state last week Bello claimed that the administration had recovered over N700 million from some politicians of the last administration adding that more money would be paid back to the government soon by these people.

The Chairman of the House Committee on Finance Alhaji Abdullahi Mamagi who made the position of the legislators known said the decision of the House was necessary to enable the people of the state know how much was recovered.

Mamagi said the Assembly had therefore directed the Chairman of the state Board of Internal Revenue, the Commissioner for Finance, and the officer in charge of the state Fiscal Responsibility Commission and Procurement Board to submit the details to the Clerk of the Assembly immediately.

He said the state was grappling with an almost empty treasury which had resulted in inactivity by virtually all sector of the state economy adding that the amount recovered would go a long way to propel the various organs of the government to action if the money was brought into the central pool and shared according to laid down rules.

“Probity must be entrenched in government business and we want to start with the recovered loot”, he said.

Deputy State Chairman of the PDP, Barrister Tanko Beji, speaking in a similar vein said it was not enough for the Governor to announce that a certain amount of money had been recovered, saying that the governor should let the people know those that made the refund and where the money was being kept.