Sokoto State Government Recovers 70 Out Of Over 740 Vehicles Stolen By Ex-Commissioners, Others

He added that 302 vehicles were in the possession of former Commissioners, Special Advisers and Chief Executives while 443 were in the possession of local government areas.

The Sokoto State government says it has recovered 70 out of 745 vehicles allegedly stolen by former government officials in the state.

This was stated by the chairman of the Committee for the Review of Wasteful and Unnecessary Government Assets, Alhaji Jelani Kalgo while presenting the interim report of the committee to the state governor, Ahmed Aliyu, on Thursday.

He claimed that about 745 vehicles were identified by the committee.

He added that 302 vehicles were in the possession of former Commissioners, Special Advisers and Chief Executives while 443 were in the possession of local government areas.

“We have so far retrieved 32 vehicles from former government officials, including Commissioners, Special Advisers and Chief Executives of Ministries, Departments and Agencies,” he was quoted by Daily Trust.

He continued: “We went round all the 23 local government areas and found out that 70 percent of the 443 vehicles there were grounded.

“And the committee had discovered that about 40 vehicles were released on hire to private individuals and were taking beyond the boundaries of the local government areas; some beyond the boundary of the state and some beyond the boundary of Nigeria to as far as Niger Republic.

“The vehicles include 6 graders, 6 pay loaders, 3 rollers, 9 tippers, 4 water tankers and 2 fire service tankers among others. This is very disturbing.”

“We have invited all the stakeholders, including the local government chairmen, works supervisors and even the beneficiaries and we succeeded in retrieving 35 heavy duty vehicles.

“Your Excellency, some of these vehicles were found hidden in five places in the state metropolis.”

Kalgo noted that the recovery could have been more but for shortage of fund and lack of court order.

He went on to say that the committee discovered a government property sold for N60 million, with only N30 million accounted for.

Governor Aliyu responded by thanking the committee for a job well done and promising that the administration would review their report and take appropriate measures.

credit: Sahara reporters