The Nigerian Government has placed a lien on certain accounts of some Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), with about N412 billion blocked from withdrawal.
Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related Offences Commission (ICPC), Professor Bolaji Owasanoye, who disclosed this in Abuja on Tuesday, added that the affected MDAs would not be able to spend such ‘questionable’ money.
Owasanoye made the disclosure during the ICPC engagement with media chief executives at the Reiz Continental Hotel in Abuja.
He explained that decision to place such accounts and the fund contained therein, was sequel to the advice by the anti-graft agency after it raised question marks on such funds.
Owasanoye said the commission was able to track the extra funds through electronic monitoring of payments and transfers from salary accounts among others by some MDAs. According to him, ICPC issued the relevant alarm and the Ministry of Finance thereafter placed the affected accounts under negative warrant where the funds cannot be spent.
Furthermore, he said the Commission has recovered close to N2billion in cash. He said that if the physical assets were added, the amount recovered by the commission so far, would be far more than this.
Speaking on the lingering debate over the proposed merger of anti-graft agencies, the ICPC boss argued that there is a case for multiple ant-graft agencies in Nigeria. According to him, the only missing link is coordination. He observed that aside from ICPC, EFCC and CCB which many observers have focused attention on when discussing anti-corruption, about 30 or so agencies are relevant to corruption fight These other agencies he said include BPP,NEITI,NAFDAC,NDLEA,CPC among others which have strong regulatory powers to check corruption. He specifically noted the fact that the police is an essential player in the fight against graft.
Owasanoye also debunked the notion that the agency has avoided probing the military. According to the ICPC boss, petitions about military issues have been received and investigated appropriately.
Another prominent speaker at the roundtable was the DG NOA, Garba Abari, who outlined the efforts of the agency against all odds. He said the NOA remains very credible and relevant to grassroots mobilization. According to him, some global bodies prefer to work with NOA on people- oriented programmes.
The Spokesperson of ICPC, Mrs Azuka Chinelo Ogugua, also addressed the gathering which was attended by other top officials of the commission. Also present at the event were lawmakers including Dauda Yahaya and Talatu Mohammed.
(With a NEWSDIARY ONLINE report)
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