The Federal Government is not prosecuting and recovering assets looted by former government officials because of “strategic advice” from various sources, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has said.
The vice president made this known at an anti-corruption stakeholders meeting to commemorate the 2017 World Anti-corruption Day in Abuja on Monday.
Represented by his Special Adviser on Rule of Law, Mr. Akingbolahan Adeniran, Osinbajo identified the sources as independent sources, anti – corruption committees and special panels set up for the recovery of assets looted by previous government officials.
Osinbajo said, “The administration has relied a lot on strategic advice, looking at the fight against corruption from a broad perspective, and basically relying on independent advice in order to move forward in fighting corruption.
“It is focused a lot on prevention, and this is one aspect that a lot of people do not talk about so much. Then enforcement, this is the key aspect of the fight against corruption; there has to be accountability for those who basically violate the law.
“Then asset recovery, which is a key element of the fight against corruption. As regards assets recovery, where there has been no conviction, it is because of the strategic advice that we were given.”
The vice president added that due to its anti-corruption stance, the Buhari-led administration has been able to weed out 50,000 ghost workers from the government’s payroll.