Posted on: 08:34 Sat, 30 Jan 2016



The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji
Lai Mohammed has said government officials
looted N273.9bn from pension funds between
2005 and 2011.

The minister said this while delivering the
Distinguished Guest Lecture of the Faculty of
Arts, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-ife, on
Friday, according to a statement issued by his
Special Assistant on Media, Mr. Segun Adeyemi.

Mohammed cited the pension fraud as one of
the numerous high-profile cases of corruption
that had occurred in the country in recent times.

He drew a link between corruption and under-
development, and noted that corruption had
under-developed Nigeria and condemned the
citizens into perpetual poverty
To buttress his assertion, the minister listed
numerous cases of corruption, including N1.9bn
Special Intervention Ebola Fund Scandal; the
Police Equipment Funds scandal in which about
N774m was diverted; the Dasukigate that has so
far revealed that 21 individuals benefitted from
the scam to a tune of N54bn; the pension scam,
in which top government officials in charge of
pension funds in the country looted about
N273.9bn from 2005 to 2011 and the fuel
subsidy scam, in which Nigeria spent N2.587trn
on fuel subsidy in 2011, 900 percent more than
the N245bn that was appropriated for that
purpose.

He called on the citizens to form coalitions that
will galvanise their individual efforts to tackle
corruption, saying there was a role for everyone
in tackling graft. The minister said once the
people were determined to battle corruption, they
were assured of victory.