Emmanuel Awari-Jalingo
Individuals and government Ministries Departments, Agencies and groups who have converted government properties to their personal use have been urge to return them back to the government or face the full wraths of the law.
Taraba State Governor Dr. Agbu Kefas stated this while at the exco Chamber Government House Jalingo while receiving the reports of the Assets Assessment and Recovery Committee he set up recently.
“I want to thank you for your commitment and sacrifice to turn in this report after a very rigorous exercise.
“I want to assure you that your report will start seeing light from today.
“Most times, people think I will set up committee, I will release funds, they think I am a joker.
“I am not here to joke. This is an opportunity for me to serve the people. Tomorrow I might not be here.
“So for this time that I am here, the right thing must be done.
“I want to advice all individuals or groups that have confiscated government property to please prepare to hand them over.
“It is a very serious offence, it can lead somebody to jail.
He said that the recommendations that have been made in the report, if he direct aby or any office to act and refuse to procrastinate or delay, the situation can consume the officers in charge.
“So I want to warn that if you are directed to act, all the things that happened in 2023, some people think I don’t know.
“I have been watching, I have been understudying everybody, and I have been seeing those that I will tell them to do something, they will delay, they will not do, when they see me, they dodge.
“I am also looking at them. Those that are only interested in their personal things, I am also looking at them.
“So this year, we will have to step up and do what is right.
“All these things that you have discovered, we will make sure we recover them. And those that need to be disposed, we will dispose them – he said.
“Government thing is government thing – there are some people, I know that we changed some furniture, we changed some things in some offices, some people are carrying them to their homes – better return them back to the store so that it can be disposed appropriately – he warned.
“We are not taking them back, but return them back and when they are to auction them or dispose them, indicate interest and then you will be free. But if you carry them, even in those lodges there and the houses there and all these things that they carry them they think I don’t know.
“You will bring them back. So anything that is government property, please secure it, because when the time comes, you will be asked. You have to produce them.
He assure the committee that he did not set up the committee for joke.
“I took my time to select and to also consult for input in the selection.
“That is why you turned un this report in this manner. I believe that there is no better group or committee that can do better than what you have done. For the fact that you have Taraba at heart, no evil will come before you.
“So don’t run away – out of Nigeria to another country. We are going to give you support. If the support is enough for you to go anywhere, you can go by yourselves.
“Let me borrow from my senior colleague in my Constituency – my boss, Gen. Ventinaba. I don’t want to aid and abate because he was in the military police. I don’t want to aid and abate those that want to run away from Taraba.
“So what we can do is you have done very well. We will look at our budget – we will see what we can do, so that you can take a leave.
The Governor, thank all the agencies, the good people of Taraba State for giving them support, adding that without their support, the committee won’t have come out the way they came out.
In his presentation, Vintenaba highlighted instances of gross misuse, diversion, and misappropriation of government properties by certain individuals.
He inform the governor that the state has stolen assets scattered across the country that need to be immediately recovered or disposed of.
“During the our assignment, we noticed gross misuse, diversion, and misappropriation of government properties by some individuals.
According to him, their reports are in three volumes including an executive summary.
“Taraba State has some assets cutting across the country that need to be recovered or disposed of.
The state deputy Governor and top members of the Taraba State government among others attended the presentation ceremony.