The Federal Government has recovered another $151million and N8billion from three sources.
The recovery of the looted funds comes hot on the heels of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC’s recovery of $9.8million and 72,000 pounds sterling from the Kaduna home of a former NNPC GMD, Andrew Yakubu.
Revealing the recent recovery which was made possible through whistle-blowers, the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed in a statement released on Sunday in Lagos noted that the recovered loot is not part of the cash recovered from the former NNPC GMD.
Lai Mohammed said: “The biggest amount of $136.7m was recovered from an account in a commercial bank, where the money was kept under an apparently fake account name.
“This was followed by N7bn and $15m from another person and N1bn from yet another.”
Lal Mohammed further noted that the whistle-blower policy instituted by the president Muhammadu Buhari administration has started yielding positive result in recovering the funds mindlessly looted by officials during the previous administration.
He said: “The whistle-blower policy is barely two months old and Nigerians have started feeling its impact, how a few people squirrelled away public funds.
“It is doubtful if any economy in the world will not feel the impact of such mind-boggling looting of the treasury as was experienced in Nigeria.
“Yet whatever has been recovered so far, including the $9.2m by the EFCC, is just a tip of the iceberg.”
The minister further reminded Nigerians of the whistle blower policy adding that “if there is a voluntary return of stolen or concealed public funds or assets on the account of the information provided, the whistle blower may be entitled to anywhere between 2.5 per cent (Minimum) and 5.0 per cent (Maximum) of the total amount recovered.”
