55 Persons Stole More Than One-Quarter of 2015 budget – FG

The federal government, on Monday alleged that between 2006 and 2013, 55 persons stole a total of N1.34 trillion in Nigeria, an amount that it said was more than a quarter of the 2015 national budget.

Making the revelation at a press briefing in Abuja, organised to kick-start the national sensitization campaign against corruption, the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said if the period is stretched to 2015, the total amount stolen would be about N3.2 trillion.

He said of the stolen funds, 15 former governors allegedly stole N146.84 billion; four former ministers allegedly stole N7 billion; 12 former public servants, both at federal and state levels, allegedly stole over N14 billion; eight people in the banking industry allegedly stole N524 billion; while 11 businessmen allegedly stole N653 billion, but failed to name any of them.

He added: “Using the World Bank rates and costs, one third of the stolen funds could have provided 635.18 kilometres of roads; built 36 ultramodern hospitals, that is one ultramodern hospital per state; built 183 schools; educated 3,974 children from primary to tertiary level at N25.24 million per child; and built 20,062 units of 2-bedroom houses.

“This is the money that a few people, just 55 in number, allegedly stole within a period of just eight years. And instead of a national outrage, all we hear are these nonsensical statements that the government is fighting only the opposition, or that the government is engaging in vendetta.”

Commenting on the issue of the $2.1 billion arms deal, the minister said irrespective of what anyone might say, the funds meant to fight terrorism were deployed to another “fight” – the fight to keep then President Goodluck Jonathan and his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in power at all cost.

“So far, based on what we know, no one who has been accused of partaking in the sharing of the funds has denied receiving money. All we have heard from them are ludicrous reasons why they partook in sharing of the money. One said he collected N4.5 billion for spiritual purposes, another said he received N2.1 billion for publicity, while yet another said he got N13 billion to pay someone else for the maritime university land,” the minister stated.

He further said, so many lives have been lost and so many hopes dashed as a result of corruption, however he emphasized that corruption will damage the live and well – being of Nigerians, thereby urging that we need to kill corruption before it kills the nation.