Defence
THE Elites Network for Sustainable Development (ENetSuD), has advised the Kwara Government to establish an anti-corruption agency, following forensic reports indicting some past officials of the state administrations to the tune of N11.9bn.
The anti-corruption Civil Society Organization (CSO), made the call in a statement on Sunday in Ilorin by its Press Secretary, Saeed Tijjani.
Gov. AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq of Kwara had received a forensic audit report conducted by SSAC Advisory and Professionals Services and indicted one of the past administrations.
The statement said the report alleged some actors in the past administration allegedly took away public fund amounting to at least ₦11.9 billion without lawful tie to any project or programme.
“Even though we have not read the said report, we commend Gov. AbdulRahman AbdulRasaq for initiating the forensic audit of the books of Kwara State.
“Auditing previous spending by past administrations should always be encouraged, as this practice will reveal any form of mismanagement and looting that might have been covered or hidden in the past by the actors and their accomplices.
“However, we are not impressed with the way the present administration is handling cases of alleged corruption, as it appears that the state government is only interested in media headlines for political gain, rather than the actual loot recovery in the public interest.
“For instance, the governor has, since assumption of office in 2019, repeatedly been alleging the actors of the past administrations to have stolen UBEC grant without any action taken.
“The allegation has ended on social media and newspaper pages without any legal means to recover the allegedly stolen fund from the purported looters,” the statement said.
It recalled that ENetSuD had earlier advised Gov. AbdulRazaq to prosecute an ex-governor if truly he stole funds, but nothing had been done so far.
“We are not optimistic that the new allegation of looting of ₦11.9 billion will not also end on social media and newspaper pages as in the case of UBEC grant and others too numerous to mention.
“We are also reminding the Kwara State Government of the need to immediately establish a Public Complaints and Anti-Corruption Commission (PUCACC) in the State, as there is a need to fight corruption institutionally.
“Corruption is the major reason the level of growth and development does not commensurate with public fund spent by successive administrations since the return of democracy.”
The statement reminded the governor of his constitutional duty to abolish all corrupt practices and abuse of power in line with the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“Prosecution of the looters will be of great interest to the public (and taxpayers) better than the perpetual allegations in the media without any action to recover such funds.
It added that this was apt especially now that the alleged culprits no longer had immunity against prosecution,” the statement stated.(NAN)
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Tags: AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq ENetSuD PUCACC Saeed Tijjani
