The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), on Monday, disclosed that his ministry was making frantic efforts to ensure that ‘we are allocated some cost of collection from recovered funds to finance our recovery operations.’
Malami made this statement when he appeared before the House of Representatives’ Committee on Justice to defend his ministry’s 2022 budget.
He pointed out that the move was important to ensure smooth operations especially in the anti-corruption fight,
He added, ‘To date, there are large sums of illicit money stashed abroad for which we are working at close quarters with ICPC and EFCC as dependable allies to effect recovery.’
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Chairman of the committee, Ugonna Ozurigbo, in his opening remarks, noted that the business of government cannot be run in a vacuum and that budget approval is critical to good governance, ‘therefore, this exercise should be given the necessary importance that it deserve as we solicit your maximum cooperation and total disclosure of all material facts.’
Malami confirmed the ministry handles public prosecution and civil litigation for the federation and sometimes outsources such services particularly, as it relates to being prosecuted internally where state counsels have legal limitations to court appearances.
‘We all know that legal services (especially litigations) are not cheap. Furthermore, the Justice Sector reforms we are currently undertaking are costly to execute. We, therefore, need your kind support with adequate funding to successfully prosecute them.’
‘To prevent reoccurrence of a case similar to P&ID, Council directed HAGF to present a memo for the establishment of a Federal Taskforce to review and validate contracts, judgments and arbitral awards and implement the Federal Verification System to prevent abuses similar to the P&ID case.’
‘Council directed the Honourable Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice to incorporate the funding requirements of a Federal Contracts Administration System (FCAS) in Nigeria in the Federal Ministry of Justice’s 2022 Budget proposal.’
‘As 2022 beckons, I am looking forward to a more refreshing feeling of a common bond between the Justice sub-sector and all the Distinguish Senators of the Federal Republic of Nigeria for a seamless administration of Justice in Nigeria’, Malami added.
Malami disclosed his ministry’s efforts to get some cost of collection from recovered funds to finance our recovery operations.
AFRICA DAILY NEWS, NEW YORK