The Federal Government has mandated the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami to come forward with a Memo seeking to establish a Federal Taskforce to review and validate contracts, judgements, arbitrary awards and implement the Federal Verification System to prevent abuses similar to the case of P& ID.
Malami made this known while appearing before Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters.
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Malami disclosed that the P$ID contract that was signed without due process and procedure had the capacity to rip off $10 billion from Nigeria.
He said the taskforce is aimed at putting in place some measure of check on acts of criminal conspiracy between local and international business in connivance with unscrupulous civil servants against the interest of government.
The Attorney General added that the taskforce when established provide opportunities to review contracts that fall within such dubious categories to protect Nigeria from impending liabilities and also ensure that those responsible are effectively brought to justice.
He said that the taskforce is expected to spent N1.1 billion in 2022 to carry out holistic Investigation on nine other contracts signed against the interest of the country.
The Minister presented a budget proposal of N11.8 billion for the ministry in 2022, Personel cost – N3.9 billion, overhead cost (exclusive of Legal Services) – N2.4bn , Legal Services – M2 billion , Capital budget- N3.5 billion.
All parastatals and agencies under the Ministry of Justice also appeared before the Committee to defend 2022 budget.
Reporter: Nancy Urum Editor: Omor Bazuaye
