Following
the pledge of the President Buhari-led administration to curb
corruption in the nation, the Senate has kicked off probe into the
administration of former President, Olusegun Obasanjo.
The House of Representatives has commenced investigations into how a
$5m grant given to the Lake Chad Basin Commission during the
administration of former president Olusegun Obasanjo was spent.
The House on Thursday, December 17, noted that the money was meant
to carry out study on how to direct rivers to the lake but nothing came
out of it, Punch reports.
Mr Ahmed Abu, a member of the House, said the office of the
auditor-general of the federation released a report in October that
showed that the fund was not utilized.
Abu explained that Nigeria and neighbouring countries were to
contribute to the commission’s annual budget but that Nigeria has been
funding it.
“The House is aware that the percentage contribution towards
the commission’s annual budget is 40 per cent by Nigeria; 18 per cent by
Libya; 20 per cent by Cameroon; seven per cent by Niger; 11 per cent by
Chad and four per cent by Central African Republic," he said.
“The House is informed that the sum of $5m was released by the
administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo to the commission
for feasibility studies on how to divert rivers from the Central African
Republic to Lake Chad, which was drying up, in addition to funding the
Lake Chad Basin Commission’s annual budget through the funding formula,
to which Nigeria contributes 40 per cent.”
The House pointed out that the absence of the $5m in the report was
an example of how huge amounts of money were put into projects without
adequate monitoring to find out how the fund was used.
“The House regrets that transaction of this magnitude paid for
with tax payers’ money has not been given the due attention it deserves
by way of follow-up,” Abu added.
Yakubu Dogara, the speaker of the House, has also directed the committee to begin investigation and report within eight weeks.
When News Breaks Out, We Break In. (The 2014 Bloggies Finalist)
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