'We will jail arms fund thieves,' President says

yinka ogunlami

December 28, 2015 10:19 PM

Following the shocking revelations of the diverted $2.1b meant to purchase arms, President Mohammadu Buhari has pledged to duly prosecute and jailed those involved in the financial scandal.

___4491687___https:______static.pulse.com.gh___webservice___escenic___binary___4491687___2015___12___23___15___Buhari-rtd

Following the shocking revelations of the diverted $2.1b meant to purchase arms, President Mohammadu Buhari has pledged to duly prosecute and jailed those involved in the financial scandal. President Buhari said this while speaking with the BBC Hausa Service recently.

Read: 'I won't sack any teacher' - Gov. assures

"That is why those who stole monies meant for arms procurement and shared it among themselves are being arrested and are being shown documents so that they would be asked to refund the money or face prosecution; we would use those documents to prove what they stole, collect all the assets acquired from the proceeds and then jail them,” he said.

Mr President also promised to block all leakages and pledged effective utilization public funds. He also claimed that the 2016 budget will be mainly funded by funds from Customs, Ports and direct taxes on goods and services.

Read: ‘Looting by ex-president’s administration led to soldiers’ rebellion,’ Buhari says

“We have also shown the changes we have made in the Customs; for instance, how much we are making from the Customs service; how much from petroleum, that is NNPC; how much we are making from the ports. There have been lots of leakages in these sectors. If we block these leakages, we would make much more money to run the country despite the fall in the price of oil.”

President Buhari pledge to remove Nigeria from the list of corruption and poverty endemic countries.

yinka ogunlami