The federal lawmaker representing Jos South/East at the House of Representatives has said that the recovered $23 million Abacha loot should be used into settling the demands of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).
Recall that Abubakar Malami, Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, had said the recovered loot, which is tagged ‘Abacha-5’, has been earmarked for the completion of the Abuja-Kano road, Lagos-Ibadan expressway and the Second Niger Bridge.
Speaking during an interview on Channels Television on Wednesday August 24, Bagos said the national assembly was not carried along in the disbursement of recovered loot.
He further stated that as a representative of the people, he has to argue where those funds should be channeled into.
The lawmaker said, “This is my third year in the national assembly, we have never discussed any of the recovered loot. We just sit down and we hear that the executive recovered loot and allot the same to projects that they so desire.
“We believe that when we discuss these issues at the national assembly, [and] we appropriate those funds according to the needs of Nigeria, it is going to go a long way; not just the executive looking at it and alloting it to what they feel it should be. The constitution has given us that right.
“We have pressing needs. Like now, ASUU has been on strike and the government is trying to settle those issues.
“As a representative of the people, if I have to argue where those funds should be channelled to, I will say, ‘why can’t you channel part of this fund to ASUU so that most of the youths that are at home would go back to school?’
“But some of the areas we feel that the executive is channelling those funds are not the immediate needs of Nigerians.”
