Nigeria’s President, Muhammadu Buhari, has vowed to recover funds stolen by government officials, who abused their offices in the recent past, and also stop systemic leakages.

President Buhari made the vow at a parley with state governors at the Presidential Villa on Tuesday.

At the meeting, the President assured the State Chief Executives that the days of impunity, lack of accountability, and fiscal recklessness in the management of national resources were over in Nigeria.

Part of a statement issued by the presidency after the meeting read: “There are financial and administrative instructions in every government parastatal and agency. But all these were thrown to the dogs in the past.

“Honestly, our problems are great, but we will do our best to surmount them”.

Special Assistance

The President told the Governors that the next three months may be hard, but expressed optimism that billions of dollars could be recovered.

President Buhari expressed surprise that the Governors had tolerated the atrocities allegedly committed with the Excess Crude Account since 2011, but promised to tackle the issue decisively.

The President declared that the payment of national revenue into any account other than the Federation Account was an abuse of the constitution, stressing that what he heard was going on in many agencies and corporations, particularly the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, was clearly illegal.

While assuring the Governors that monies spent on federal projects by State governments would be refunded, the President, however, said that due process must be followed.

He also promised special assistance to the three north eastern states badly affected by the Boko Haram insurgency.

The Governors had presented the economic circumstance facing the states, resulting in the non-payment of workers salaries for months.

Some governors of the All Progressives Congress had last week called for a bailout from the Federal Government, but at the meeting, they were unable to secure the bailout.

They, however, got the Federal Government’s acceptance to refund the states, monies spent on Federal Government’s projects.