Government to publish names of 200 individuals who have purchased properties using public funds

GOVERNMENT officials plan to publish the names of 200 individuals who own property that was purchased with illegally-acquired funds as part of the ongoing clampdown on corruption by the Buhari administration.

Since assuming office in 2015, President Muhammadu Buhari has made the fight against corruption the main focus of his government. Apart from the fact that several high profile politicians have been jailed, the government has also blocked numerous loopholes where state funds were filtered away during previous administrations.

Lists of corrupt politicians have also been published, while several high profile cases still remain in court. Okoi Obono-Obla, the chairman of the Special Presidential Investigative Panel for the Recovery of Property and the senior special assistant to President Buhari on prosecution, said the government is now taking the battle a step further.

Speaking at a Tackling Corruption Through Improving Transparency in Property Ownership project in Abuja, Mr Obono-Obla used the occasion to launch the Africa Network for Environment and Economic Justice's (ANEEJ) new online platform called Properti Tracka. He described the platform as being one of the single most important contributions towards the fight against corruption.

Mr Obono-Obla said: “Anybody who has taken what doesn’t belong to him should return it back to Nigeria or else face being tracked down. Properti Tracka will expose those who have taken what belongs to the entire Nigerian populace.

“We will start by making available to the public the 200 names of those who own massive properties in Maitama, Abuja, most of whom are highly placed people in the country, some in the government, some in the past governments. If they cannot explain where they got the money to build such massive properties, they should quietly return it back to the state.”