The Niger State Government has vowed to go after aides of former Governor of the state, Babangida Aliyu in a bid to recover all funds belonging to the state that was misappropriated during the last administration.
Disclosing the move on Saturday, Dr. Ibrahim Dooba, Chief Press Secretary to the present state Governor, Abubakar Bello, lamented the economic status of the state, adding that it would not be advisable to set up a commission of inquiry as it would amount to waste of time and public resources.
The governor was quoted recently as saying that after payment of salaries, the administration had between N100 million and N200 million left adding that this was not enough to provide dividends of democracy to the people.
Dooba’s reaction was against the position of the state House of Assembly which asked the executive arm of the state government to institute a commission of inquiry to probe the administration of Aliyu.
According to him, instead of setting up a commission of inquiry, the state government would make good use of the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to recover any stolen public money from former political office holders.
“The Commission of Inquiry will delay the recovery of the loot from the past government, hence ICPC and EFCC will bail us out fast,” Dooba said.
“Even though the state is clamouring for the commission of inquiry, it will not help matters, it means spending the little money we have again on the one we are looking for,” he said.
Dooba, however, promised that the state government would continue to carry out programmes for the benefit of the people of the state.
