Abubakar Malami: Justice Minister

A Federal high court sitting in Lagos on Wednesday ordered Federal the Government to immediately release to Nigerians information about the names of high ranking public officials from whom public funds have been recovered and the circumstances under which such funds were recovered, as well as the exact amount of funds recovered from each public official.

The judgment of the court was sequel to a Freedom of Information suit filed before the court by Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP).

The presiding Judge Hadizat-Rabiu-Shagari acceded to the request of SERAP that the Federal Government has legally binding obligations to tell Nigerians the names of all suspected looters of the public treasury past and present.

Joined as co -defendants in the suit are the Minister of Information Alhaji Lai Muhammed and the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture.

The court further ruled that by virtue of the provisions of Section 4 (a) of the Freedom of Information Act 2011, the Federal Government is under a binding legal obligation to provide the Plaintiff with up to date information relating to widely disseminate, including operating a dedicated website for information about the names of high ranking public officials from whom public funds were recovered since May 2015 as well as the circumstances under which such stolen public funds were recovered.

It would be recalled that the Ministry of Information last year published details of the recoveries, which showed that the Nigerian government successfully retrieved total cash amount N78,325,354,631.82, $185,119,584.61, £3,508,355.46 and €11, 250 between May 29, 2015 and May 25, 2016.

Also released were recoveries under interim forfeiture, which were a combination of cash and assets, during the same period: N126, 563,481,095.43, $9,090,243,920.15, £2,484,447.55 and €303,399.17.

The Federal Government also said anticipated repatriation from foreign countries totaled: $321,316,726.1, £6,900,000 and €11,826.11.

The ministry also announced that 239 non-cash recoveries were made during the one-year period.

The non-cash recoveries are – farmlands, plots of land, uncompleted buildings, completed buildings, vehicles, vessels and other immovable properties.