The Minister of
Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, has explained that the looted
fund recovered so far by government is a far cry from what the country
needs to revive the economy.
The minister said this on Friday when he appeared on a News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Forum in Abuja.
According to him, the amount of money recovered is always being made public.
“What we have recovered and if my record is right is about N78 billion, and 3 million dollars.
“We
have been able to block various accounts in which about 9 billion dollar
is found but those are not money available to us because we are still
in court over them.
“The
government spends N165 billion every month to pay federal civil
servants, even what has been so far recovered will not even pay 50 per
cent of the salaries in a month.’’
Mr.
Mohammed assured Nigerians that every penny recovered will be
judiciously spent and nobody could re-loot what had been recovered under
the administration.
The
minister further explained that Nigerians should understand that what
had been recovered was so little compared to what the people needed on a
continuous basis.
On
budget release, he recalled that the Federal Ministry of Finance
released N400 billion for capital projects, mostly on roads, railway,
and power.
“N400 billion seems a lot, but you must also understand that for three or four years contractors were not paid.
“So,
when we paid this money to contractors, they also use part of it to
settle their own debt, they use part of it to recall laid off staff.
“But
the truth of the matter is that many of them have been paid, they are
yet to mobilise to site and they cannot do so until the rains are over.
Mr. Mohammed said what the government owed the contractors was about N2 trillion.
– sahara reporters