EFCC Probe Jonah Jang

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is investigating former Plateau State Governor, Jonah Jang over alleged misappropriation of public funds, reports say.

Jang is said to be under the EFCC’s spotlight due to his inability to account for billions of naira allocated to the state during his tenure.

“Under Jonah Jang as governor of Plateau State, N2 billion was released by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for Small and Medium Scale (SME) businesses in Plateau State. The N2 billion was released to Jang in April 2015, a month before the expiration of his administration. The money disappeared. And there’s no trace or evidence that SMEs in Plateau State benefited from the CBN fund meant,” a source told The Nation.

“The administration of former Governor Jonah Jang got N6.1 billion from the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and the Ministry for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs.

“Jang collected N982, 526451.02 from the Plateau State government using a front company, Darmatist Consult, for a purported, non-existent recovery of N7.56 billion from Nasarawa State. The money was paid to Darmatist as a consultancy fee.

“Under Jang, millions of naira was debited monthly from the accounts of the 17 local governments in Plateau State. Jang claimed the debited funds will be used to construct a five kilometre road in each of the 17 councils.

“But most of the roads were never constructed. Just a few councils in Jang’s Plateau North benefited from this scheme but the funds disappeared from the state accounts before the emergence of the Simon Lalong administration.”

“Questions are also being raised on how SURE-P funds were disbursed by the Jang administration. As a matter of fact, Jang, in his handover notes, did not provide the information on how much was released, how much was received and what the funds were used for,” the source added.

Meanwhile, the Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami has ordered the reopening of corruption cases against 30 former governors in the country.

Some of the former governors involved are Senate President, Bukola Saraki (Kwara), Factional Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Ali Modu Sheriff (Borno) and Senate Minority Leader, Godswill Akpabio (Akwa Ibom).