President Muhammadu Buhari said Tuesday in Abuja 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.
President Buhari told General Abdulsalami and members of his
committee that the Federal Government, under his leadership, will not
only ask for the return of stolen funds that have been stashed in
foreign banks, but will also ensure that those who stole the funds are
put on trial in Nigeria.
The President also said that as part of its actions to address the
national problems it inherited, his administration was reorganising
Nigeria's revenue generating institutions.
The President 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.
"As Petroleum Minister under Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo in the 1970s, I
could not travel abroad until I had taken a memo to the Federal
Executive Council asking for estacode. Now, everybody does what he
wants.
"That is why security-wise and economically, we're in trouble,"
President Buhari told his guests, adding that those who have stolen the
national wealth "will be in court in a matter of weeks and Nigerians
will know those who have short-changed them."
Gen. Abubakar and members of his committee urged the Federal
Government to be guided by the rule of law in its fight against
corruption.
Members of the National Peace Committee who accompanied Gen Abubakar
on the visit were Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah, His Eminence, Alhaji
Sa'ad Abubakar, the Sultan of Sokoto, Cardinal John Onaiyekan, Pastor
Ayo Oritsejafor, President of the Christian Association of Nigeria
(CAN) and Archbishop Nicholas Okoh, Primate of the Anglican Church of
Nigeria.
Others were Justice Rose Ukeje (rtd), Prof Ameze Guobadia, Vanguard
Newspaper Publisher, Sam Amuka, Dame Priscilla Kuye, Senator Ben Obi,
Dr. Yunusa Tanko, and Dr Arthur-Martin Aginam.
The National Peace Committee, formed before the 2015 general
elections, was granted permission by the President to transform to a
National Peace Council.
