The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has said 15 revenue generating agencies of the federal government refused to remit N8.1 trillion to the Federation Account between the year 2010 and 2015.
The minister disclosed this in Osogbo, Osun State, on Monday while commissioning the Channelization, De-silting, Flood Control and Development of Okoko and Ogbagba Rivers, phases one and two.
Alhaji Mohammed, who represented President Muhammadu Buhari at the event, said the discovery by the auditing firm KPMG is worse than the N1.34 trillion stolen by 55 public officials between 2006 and 2013.
“Recently, the Federal Government ordered an audit (between 2010 and 2015) of 15 government revenue generating agencies. The result was the discovery that the agencies had not remitted over 8.1 trillion Naira to the Federation Account. This amount is about six times the N1.34 trillion that was stolen between 2006 and 2015.
The minister said the projects being executed by the present administration, including the one that was commissioned in Osogbo (alongside 52 others being commissioned across the country) could have long been completed but for the massive looting of the treasury by previous administrations, which deprived the nation of infrastructural growth.
While corroborating the minister’s disclosure, Governor Rauf Aregbesola of the State of Osun said if the N8.1trillion was remitted, his state would have received N71.5billion as part of its share which would have been enough to pay workers salaries and execute other projects.
He blamed the previous administration of the PDP for the state’s inability to pay workers salaries and execute other projects.
