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THE federal government has asked all former senior public office holders to return assets of government in their possession immediately.

The directive announced on Sunday, March 6, Kemi Adeosun, Finance minister, affects ministers, permanent secretaries, directors and other political office holders.

Already, a project coordinator has been appointed by the minister for the immediate take-off of an Asset Tracking and Management Project.

The minister also created the first Central Asset Register for the federal government, Salisu Na’inna Danbatta, director of Information, said in a statement on Sunday, March 5.

According to the statement, for the first time, a Central and Unified National Database of Assets, Asset Register, would be generated to maintain record, track and manage the huge investments in capital assets owned by Government.

The statement said Adeosun had dispatched a circular to all federal ministries, departments and agencies, MDAs, requesting their accounting officers  to prepare an inventory of all fixed assets held as at December  31, 2016, to facilitate physical verification by the project team.

The circular requested all heads of MDAs “to ensure that any assets held by current and former staff are fully accounted for.  In this regard, you may find it necessary to contact any former staff and/or political office holders to avail them the opportunity to return relevant assets in their possession.”

The circular emphasised that “all inventory records submitted will be cross-checked to capital releases and project account purchases to ensure completeness. Where assets have been sold or otherwise disposed of, they must be recorded with supporting authorization for sale and evidence of payment, where applicable.”

The circular drew the attention of heads of MDAs to Chapter 26 of the Financial Regulations, with regards to disposals of assets and warned that “any asset not accessible for physical inspection and not disposed of in accordance with financial requirements will be deemed to have been illegally withheld or converted. Please record such assets so as to enable the investigative agencies to be notified.”

The records of the assets disposed of should cover the last five years, and all accounting officers of the MDAs were to submit their reports not later than three weeks from the date of receipt of the circular.

—  Mar 6, 2017 @ 15:05 GMT

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