Wealthy Nigerians should declare their assets or forfeit it to government – Ndume
The Chief Whip of the Nigerian Senate, Mohammed Ndume, has asked President Bola Tinubu to sign an Executive Order on Unexplained Wealth.
The order will empower anti-graft agencies to go after Nigerians with questionable wealth.
Ndume, who represents Borno South Senatorial district in the Upper legislative chamber of the National Assembly, explained that if President Tinubu is serious about tackling the menace of corruption, he must sign the Executive Order as soon as possible.
Speaking with journalists in Abuja, the nation’s capital, Ndume said that the president should make rich Nigerians explain their source of wealth or make them forfeit it to the Nigerian government if they cannot give a satisfactory explanation.
Commending President Tinubu for ordering that all revenues from the sale of crude oil be paid into an account with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the senator said signing the executive order would tackle the menace of corruption.
“The next thing now, if President Tinubu wants to fight corruption, would be to sign an Executive Order on Unexplained Wealth in this country,” he said.
Ndume who said that he should also be questioned on how he made his wealth, warned that the issue should not be trivialised.
“Let all these people explain where they got their money, including myself. People should stop talking about trivialities or personal issues; they should talk about national issues,” he said.
According to Daily Sun, Ndume also urged President Tinubu to expand the dragnet to all government agencies that generate revenues. He said that agencies must not be allowed to keep government funds in commercial banks without proper monitoring.
He said, “The President has now ordered that all crude oil sales money should be paid into the CBN. That is a very welcome and positive thing that he has done and he should not stop there.
“All agencies of government that are revenue generating should pay their money into the consolidated revenue account and as they present their budget, whatever expenditure they are going to incur, let them bring it before the National Assembly. That’s what the Constitution says.
“So, what they now want is to make a political issue again out of it.
“This decision that Mr. President took is the right decision, it is constitutional and it should be supported by everybody. That way, it should also apply to other agencies of government that are driving revenue. They cannot keep it.
“NIMASA should pay directly like NNPCL into the CRF. The Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) should do the same. The Nigeria Customs Service and all other revenue agencies should pay revenues into the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation and their accounts should remain with CBN because they can do banking.
“So, if they want to withdraw money, they should withdraw through the CBN. They were doing this before. Don’t go and keep people’s money in commercial banks and do transactions with it. That is it.
“I reiterate my call commending him for asking NNPCL to pay all oil revenue into the Consolidated Revenue account.”
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