Kwara speaker, SAN disagree on recovered funds’ sharing

Speaker, Kwara State House of Assembly, Dr Ali Ahmad and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Lateef Fagbemi, has expressed divergent views on how the funds recovered from looters should be shared.

While Ahmad wants the Federal Government to use the monies to offset the backlog of salaries confronting the states, Fagbemi argued that states do not have exclusive rights over what belongs to the federal.

They spoke with reporters at the ongoing 2016 Biennial Law Week, organised by the Ilorin branch of Nigerian Bar Association (NBA).

The speaker stressed that the funds are part of the excess crude account which the national assembly must be given power to adjudicate on.

But the senior lawyer said the existing revenue sharing formular was more suited for the purpose.

“The funds should go into the consolidated account. It is not what the federal government would want to use alone. The monies belong to the federal, state and local councils.

“It is like earning, since some of the recovered loot came from governors. What they embezzled were states and local governments monies put together, which therefore should be shared among the three tiers of government.

The speaker however called for moderation of the anti-corruption fight, which he said, should not be personalised but institutionalised.

He said the eight-year rule of President Buhari would amount to nothing if the anti-corruption fight were not institutionalised.

“Once he lives the scene, corruption would come back,” he said.