FG Recovers 40 SUVs From Ex-Perm Sec.

The federal government has recovered 40 brand new Sport Utility Vehicles (SUVs) and other vehicles from a former permanent secretary in the Federal Ministry of Power, Dr. Godknows Igali.

Dr Igali, who retired from office recently, was said to have made away with the luxury cars which belong to the federal government.

Though the minister of information and culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, did not confirm or deny the identity of the culprit, checks by LEADERSHIP Friday revealed that Igali is the man in question.

The information minister, however, asserted yesterday that President Muhammadu Buhari had a ‘well-articulated’ strategy in fighting corruption.

Alhaji Mohammed, who stated this while reacting to criticisms that the anti-corruption war lacked strategy, insisted that the federal government was being guided by a well-articulated strategy in its anti-corruption fight, contrary to the misconception in certain circles that the government is fighting corruption without a strategy.

In a statement made available to LEADERSHIP Friday yesterday, the minister said that “the strategy has proven so effective that it has led to, among others, the recovery of 40 brand new SUVs and other vehicles from one former permanent secretary who single-handedly appropriated the vehicles to himself when he left office.’’

He explained that the federal government was not just fixated on prosecution alone but that it was also taking preventive measures to make corruption unattractive.

Mohammed listed the strict enforcement of the Treasury Single Account (TSA), which has largely reduced the diversion of government funds into various secret accounts, and the constant fishing out of ghost workers in the public service, which many states are now adopting, as some of the preventive measures against corruption.

He listed other measures taken by the administration to strengthen the anti-corruption fight to include the establishment of the Presidential Committee on Asset Recovery and the Asset Tracing Committee; the setting up of an Asset Register, and the Whistle Blower Policy.

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