Minister of Finance Zainab Ahmed appeared before the House of Representatives ad hoc committee investigating the assessment and status of recovered loot.
The chairman
of the committee, Adeogun Adejoro, said that it was necessary for the committee
to know the amount of recovered loot and where it was being kept.
Ms Ahmed told
the committee that she had no idea of the number of accounts being used to keep
the recovered loot.
She, however,
said that the ministry had a record of what had been recovered and the amount
that had come into the account.
She stated
that N50 billion was provided from recovered loot to fund the 2020 budget,
adding that there were two types of recovery accounts – interim forfeiture and
final forfeiture accounts.
She said that
in the case of interim forfeiture, the investigation had not been concluded,
adding that such money could not be touched by the federal government.
She added
that until investigations were concluded, the money could not be utilised.
She said that
the government borrowed from recovered loot to fund its operations, adding that
the unusual circumstances the country found herself had made it difficult to
pay back the loan.
Ms Ahmed,
however, said that the government was hoping to pay back in the 2022 budget.
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