FACTS: No Naming, No Shaming

Four days ago, Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala gave federal agencies that withheld N58 billion from the Consolidated Revenue Fund, CRF, up till today to remit the funds.

She did not name the agencies or warn of possible punishment for non-compliance.

Even if the money is recovered, the Minister knows she has performed miserably in this instance. What is the purpose of the exercise? Is it enough to recover money that was stolen from the CRF account? Does she realise that she could be dealing with a wider spread practice?

“We have identified about N58 billion of such monies which rightfully belongs in the CRF. This unwholesome practice has persisted despite the efforts of the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation, OAGF, to encourage the agencies and the affected banks to do the right thing,” she said. “The objective of this conspiracy against the national interest is clear: to keep government monies indefinitely in accounts earning interest for individuals.”

· If N58 billion was discovered which agencies were involved?

· Which banks colluded with them?

· Should the Minister not have them?

· Is the Minister protecting the banks and agencies?

· Would not naming them serve the public’s interest?

· Is it no longer a crime to divert money allocated to a certain purpose?

· Who has been earning the interest that accrued to the money?

· Would the money be recovered with interest?

· How long has this been going on?

· Could other agencies have been involved?

· Why does the Minister beg agencies to comply with the law instead of enforcing it?

· What punishment awaits the fraudsters?

· How would fraudsters in government be deterred when they are not punished?

The threat to close accounts of the agencies involved, in all banks, is not a punishment. They probably have other accounts the investigation did not uncover. An accounts closure would only hurt activities of the agencies and the public, definitely not the fat cats.

It is a shame that government agencies have so much money that all the officials think about is how to keep the money for themselves. The Office of the Accountant General of the Federation, the National Assembly, and all those who have oversight functions over these agencies have failed. If they had stringent measures for protecting public funds, these perennial scams would have been stopped over the years.

Nigerians would want the agencies, their officials and the banks that engaged in the fraud named and the appropriate law enforcement engaged to prosecute them for the crime. Any other approach would deny Nigerians, whose funds they were fiddling with, justice and the suspects their opportunity to explain how they set out decisively against the law.

Source: Vanguard