The Federal Government plans to inject about N300 billion of recovered looted funds into the 2016 budget.
However, much of the funds is currently tied up in legal logjam,according to the Special Assistant to the Vice President on Media and Publicity, Mr.Laolu Akande.
Akande spoke during the second Presidential Economic Communication Workshop in Abuja.
“There is a list of how much has been recovered so far in terms of naira or dollars or euro. We have it stated out there,” he said.
“I think they are still tied down in legal issues. So, even though we know that this money was stolen, we still don’t have access to it because there are legal issues involved.
”There is a large percentage of the budget, about N300 billion that is going to be funded by the recoveries. So, in 2016 budget, there is a provision of about N300 billion, so part of the funds will be used to fund the budget.
“We have budgeted for about N300 billion to come out of the recovery to fund the budget and you know the budget has a lot that will impact the lives of people. So, what we are saying is that we hope that we make up to that, but I am not sure we have recovered as much in terms of the hard cash.
“ We have not made as much as we hoped and this is how we hope to use it. Monies have to go through certain processes before they are released to us and for now, the monies are tied up in legal processes.”
The Vice President’s spokesman also revealed that the federal government has selected 200,000 unemployed graduates and youths under the first phase of its graduate employment scheme.
They will be on a salary of N30,000 monthly and will also receive a tablet each. The programme will run for two years.
It will take off in nine states.
He said: “On the 500,000 unemployed graduates, I want to say that we have selected the first batch of 200,000 of them. The first 150,000 of them are going to be helping out to teach in their communities.
“30,000 of them are going to be working as agricultural extension workers in their communities and 20,000 of them will be doing healthcare related job in their communities.
“So, we have selected the first 200,000 and right now, they are being screened for the BVN so that their pay which is N30,000 per month will go directly into their own account and that is the only reason why they are screened.
He further said: “We have not notified them yet because we want to first of all, screen everybody and as soon as the screening is done, those selected will be notified.
Giving a breakdown of how they were selected, Akande said: “The way it was done and which is the way the entire 500,000 would be done is that we took 40 per cent of mass applications per state and then we are also giving particular consideration to the North East because of what happened there.
“The 40 per cent will be shared and then the 60 per cent will be shared amongst those in the northeast and states with low applications”.
Akande also dismissed the claim that those to benefit from the Conditional Cash Transfer for the Poor and Vulnerable have to undergo online registration.
He said: “For the conditional cash transfer for the poor and the vulnerable, there will be no online internet application of any kind. We are not going to ask the poor and vulnerable to go and register online, that is not the plan.
“We are going to be giving N5
Source: nation
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