The Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, says President Muhammadu Buhari’s regime has recovered over $1 billion in looted funds since it assumed office in 2015.
Mr Malami said this when he briefed State House correspondents on Wednesday’s Federal Executive Council meeting outcome.
He added that the proceeds of the fight against corruption had been ploughed into the nation’s economy to impact the livelihood of Nigerians through programmes like the school feeding programme and tradermoni, among others.
Mr Malami said FEC approved an extension of the National Anti-Corruption Strategic Document from 2022 to 2026.
The minister said the approval was granted following the presentation of a memorandum to the council.
“Today, the office of the Attorney General of the Federation presented a council memo seeking approval for the validation, adoption and extension of the National Anti-Corruption Strategy Document from 2022 to 2026.
“I am happy to report that the memo was taken, deliberated upon and eventually approved by the council.
“The implication of which is that we now have in place a new anti-corruption strategy policy document which is a product of collaboration among the justice sector and law enforcement agencies.”
According to the minister, this follows the chain of successes recorded in the fight against corruption, a hallmark of the Mr Buhari administration.
“Today, we are recording successes in terms of convictions for corruption, to the extent that a single agency of government like the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) within a year, (2022) we have recorded over 3000 convictions,” he said.
Also addressing the correspondents on the outcome of the meeting, the Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, said the council approved N14.09 billion as an augmentation of the contract sum for the construction of a road in Kano State.
He said the contract was inherited from previous administrations, expressing the determination of the Buhari administration to complete the project.
“Council considered and approved the augmentation, which was for N14.095 billion.”
Some of the items covered by the augmentation include the old amount for Value Added Tax (VAT), which was increased from five to 7.5 per cent.
“Others are the need to construct a flyover at Dawanau international market interchange and also the need to construct more hydraulic facilities,” he added.
(NAN)