Lai MohamedThe Federal Government policy to encourage whistle-blowers in its fight against corruption has yielded N42 billion as at February 12. It has led to the recovery of over $151m (N46bn) and N8bn in looted funds.

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, stated this in a statement. According to the minister,   the N42 billion did not include the $9.2m in cash allegedly owned by a former Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Dr Andrew Yakubu, which was also among the benefits of the whistle-blower policy.

A breakdown of the recovery showed that$136,676,600.51 (N42bn) was recovered from an account in a commercial bank with a fake account name while another account yielded N7billion and $15m. Moreover, N1billion was recovered from yet another. “When we told Nigerians that there was a primitive and mindless looting of the national treasury under the last administration, some people called us liars.Well, the whistle-blower policy is barely two months old and Nigerians have started feeling its impact, seeing how a few people squirrelled away public funds.It is doubtful if any economy in the world will not feel the impact of such mind-boggling looting of the treasury as was experienced in Nigeria.Yet, whatever has been recovered so far, including the $9.2m by the EFCC, is just a tip of the iceberg,’’ Mohammed said.

The whistle blower policy was launched in December 2016.

By Dike Onwuamaeze

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