The Federal Government has no intention of dumping the Nuhu Ribadu report as being speculated in a section of the media, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Dr Doyin Okupe has said.
He said the government would definitely take good look at the recommendations and comprehensively verify every data saying “that the government would verify data as recommended does not mean the report would be thrown away, it is not true”
Okupe who made this clarification on Thursday in Abuja, said since the committee’s report on its cover letter insisted the government must conduct necessary verifications and reconciliations before any action was taken, it would be wrong for the government to do otherwise.
According to him, at no time did he or any official of government suggest the report should be dumped because even though the data were yet to be verified, there are several issues raised by the committee that would never be swept under the carpet by the Jonathan’s administration, all found wanting punished and all loopholes for corruption blocked.
A paragraph of the committee’s report had said “ Due to time frame of the assignment, some of the data used could not be independently verified and the task force recommends that the government should conduct such necessary verifications and reconciliation”
According to him, at his recent media briefing he spoke in line with the recommendation of the committee. He said “ at that event I said “The further implication of paragraph four quoted above, which is an obvious DISCLAIMER issued by the committee on the entire report makes it impossible under our laws to indict or punish anybody except and until the Federal Government fully verifies and reconciles the facts as recommended by the committee in its submission to the government.”
Okupe stated that the because the report was hurriedly put together and submitted, the government would have to waste a lot of time and money putting together machinery to verify the document before a white paper would be issued.
He added “ I must assure Nigeria that this administration is serious about fighting corruption, through prosecution and institutional reforms, and whoever or organization is found wanting by the report after proper verification, would be made to face the due process of law.”
