The Chief Whip of the Senate, Mohammed Ali Ndume has expressed the need by President Bola Tinubu, to sign an executive order, empowering the anti-graft agencies to go after Nigerians with unexplained wealth.
Ndume who made the call while speaking with newsmen in Abuja on Tuesday, said signing the ‘Executive Order on Unexplained Wealth’ on time, will demonstrate how serious Tinubu is, in his decision to tackle the menace of corruption in Nigerian society.
According to the Borno lawmaker, if President Tinubu is serious about tackling the menace of corruption, he must sign the Executive Order as soon as possible, noting that people, especially the political class, must explain their sources of wealth or forfeit the same to the government.
“The next thing now, if President Tinubu wants to fight corruption, would be to sign an Executive Order on Unexplained Wealth in this country.
“Let all these people explain where they got their money, including myself.
“People should stop talking about trivialities or personal issues; they should talk about national issues,” Ndume stated
Commending the President’s recent action, by ordering that all revenues from the sale of crude oil be deposited into an account with the Central Bank of Nigeria, Ndume also commended the Tinubut’s action on the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, and urged him to expand the dragnet to include all government agencies that generate revenues.
The lawmaker maintained that the agencies must not be allowed to keep government funds in commercial banks without proper monitoring, noting that such funds will be safer in the coffers of the CBN.
“The President has now ordered that all crude oil sales revenue should be paid into the CBN. That is a very welcome and positive step he has taken, and he should not stop there.
“All agencies of government that generate revenue should pay their money into the consolidated revenue account and, as they present their budget, let them bring it before the National Assembly. That’s what the Constitution says.
“So, what they now want is to make a political issue out of it.
“This decision that Mr. President took is the right decision, it is constitutional, and it should be supported by everybody. That way, it should also apply to other revenue-generating agencies of government. They cannot keep it.
“NIMASA should pay directly like NNPCL into the CRF. The Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) should do the same. The Nigeria Customs Service and all other revenue agencies should pay revenues into the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation, and their accounts should remain with CBN because they can do banking.
“So, if they want to withdraw money, they should do so through the CBN. They were doing this before. Don’t go and keep people’s money in commercial banks and do transactions with it. That is it.
“I reiterate my call commending him for asking NNPCL to pay all oil revenue into the Consolidated Revenue account,” Ndume added.