Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu, has alleged that, at least, N1.3 trillion was stolen between 2011 and 2015.
Magu said the money, stolen during former President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration, was by 32 entities, including private individuals and organisations.
He disclosed this during a keynote address at the 2019 first batch conversion training programme for procurement cadre for federal parastatals and agencies, organised by the Bureau of Public Procurement, in Lagos, yesterday.
In the address delivered on his behalh by the EFCC Secretary, Ola Olukoyede, Magu lamented what the stolen funds could have been used for development in Nigeria.
He said: “One third of this money, using World Bank rates and cost, could have comfortably been used to construct well over 500 kilometres of roads; build close to 200 schools; educate about 4,000 children from primary to tertiary levels, at N25 million per child; build 20,000 units of two-bedroom houses across the country and do even more. The cost of this grand theft, therefore, is that these roads, schools and houses would never be built and these children would never have access to quality education because a few rapacious individuals had cornered for themselves what would have helped secure the lives of the future generation, thereby, depriving them of quality education and healthcare, among others.”
He added that the poor state of procurement process in Nigeria is one of the major reasons why corruption has continued to thrive in government agencies and parastatals.
“Indeed, corruption can kill Nigeria if we do not scale up our proficiency in contract and procurement management process,” Magu noted.