Senator advises FG on measures to avoid re-looting of $332m

A National Assembly member, Sen. Abu Ibrahim, has urged the Federal Government to ensure proper monitoring of proposed disbursement of 322 million dollars recovered Abacha loot to forestall re-looting of same.

President Muhammadu Buhari has indicated interest in disbursing the funds through his administration’s Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) programme to poor households.

Ibrahim gave the advice while speaking with newsmen in Abuja on Sunday.

He said that the process of reaching out to poor Nigerians should be reasonably controlled to ensure that there were no loopholes that would encourage pilfering.

“There should be a monitoring structure to check attempts to loot the money,’’ he said.

On the seeming sour relationship between the Legislature and the Executive, Ibrahim said that the Presidential system of government was not designed for both arms to agree on every issue.

According to him, there will always be areas where both arms will disagree.

He, however, said that the system had provided for mechanism where both arms could also reach compromise, adding that the political players were yet to exploit “lobbying’’ which was also a democratic tenet.

“I have been in the National Assembly for upward of 15 years. This issue of disagreement between the Executive and Legislature has always been there.

“The national assembly is not supposed to be in the pocket of the president; there are checks and balances.

“What presently looks like ups and downs in the relationship between the two arms of government is nothing to worry about,’’ the lawmaker said.