The Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership has called on the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission to probe the Central Bank of Nigeria over alleged misappropriation of funds.
The group alleged that the N55bn allocated for funding of the Federal Government’s Anchor Borrowers Programme was misappropriated by the CBN.
The Executive Chairman, CACOL, Debo Adeniran, who said this on Wednesday, cited Section 6 (b) of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000 as the statutory provision, which empowered the anti-graft agency to investigate corruption cases pertaining to public institutions in the country.
Adeniran condemned the manner in which the government revenue, which was approved to provide support for rice farmers, was allegedly diverted to strangers and political hangers-on, who were not involved in agriculture.
Adeniran urged the anti-graft agency to beam its searchlight on how the ABP funds were disbursed in five states of the federation namely: Lagos, Kebbi, Kaduna, Ekiti and Ebonyi.
He added that the ICPC should investigate the role played by the affected state governments in the alleged scam, noting that anybody fingered should be arrested, prosecuted and jailed over the diversion of public revenue.
The group decried the alleged misappropriated fund, which was meant to finance the Federal Government’s plan to boost rice production across the country in pursuit of the nation’s self-sufficiency agenda for the staple crop.
Source : punch
