The Federal Government will prosecute treasury looters should relevant security agencies forward concluded investigation to the Office of the Attorney General for further action.
Alhaji Abdullahi Ahmed Yola, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Justice, told State House correspondents on Thursday after briefing President Muhammadu Buhari on the activities of the ministry.
President Buhari had recently said that government in the next three months would go after those who looted the nation’s treasury in the last administration with a view to recovering huge funds.
According to Yola: “We have briefed the President on how we conduct ourselves concerning the maintaining of the rule of law in the country.
“As you know, rule of law is one of the cardinal policies of this administration and we have given him a rundown of what we have been doing from 2011 till now.
“We also pledged to him to continue cooperating with him to ensure that all the promises he has made to Nigerians as far as they relate to rule of law are achieved.”
Asked to what extend the ministry is involved in the recovery of looted funds, Yola said: “If the ministry receives investigations concluded by the responsible agencies, we will play our part.
“We will play our part with the prosecution of whoever has been found wanting and the security agencies have concluded investigation on that.
“At the moment, the ministry is not in receipt of any report concerning that.”
Also, while taking his turn, the Permanent Secretary in the ministry of Works, Dauda Kigbu, said he briefed the President on the need to consider alternative sources of funds, aside budgetary provisions, for the execution of road projects across the country.
He said: “The President is committed to developing this country and he is passionate about roads because roads are central to national development.
“He (Buhari) confirmed that he will look into the suggestion because if you look at the multilateral support, for example, it always has some moratorium period, a reasonable period for repayment and the interest charged is almost one per cent.”
Kigbu spoke on the road projects being considered.
He said: “The projects span across the entire country and I will not be able to tell you that one is more important than the other because you know the complexity of this country.
“I can however tell you that we are working right now on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, we are also looking at Enugu-Port Harcourt Road and Mokwa-Bida Road as well as a number of others across the country.”
On the state of the second Niger Bridge, Kigbu said: “The second Niger Bridge, as we speak, there are ongoing activities, particular early works.
“Remember that that particular project is under the PPP, which I have elaborately mentioned.”
The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, Ambassador Abdulkadir Musa, briefed the President also.
Musa the briefing was centered on creation of jobs.
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