I didn’t get any N1.6bn – Babangida Aliyu

A former Governor of Niger State, Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu, has faulted the federal government’s list of alleged looters which fingered him as one of the beneficiaries of the monies allegedly shared to some former government functionaries, governors and top military brass.

The list of alleged looters released Sunday placed N1.6 billion against the former governor, but he said yesterday that contrary to the information that he benefited from the largess, he was skipped from the sharing arrangement because of his position as leader of G-7 then.

Aliyu who made his reaction through his Media Adviser, Mr. Israel A. Ebije in a statement, said, “My attention has been drawn to Federal Government list where I was mentioned to have received N1.6bn from the Office of National Security Adviser (ONSA). Let me state that I never received such amount from the Jonathan’s administration. As leader of the G-7 I was not considered loyal enough to be entrusted with the fund, which as we may all recall was meant for campaign… I believe somebody somewhere is leveraging on the unfortunate case I have with the Niger State Government to present a bogus dragnet of alleged looters.”

Aliyu urged the federal government to be balanced in naming and shaming alleged looters, adding that Nigerians awaited to see names of politicians working with the APC government who benefited from the said loot. Mr Dauda Abbas, the official in-charge of Apiculture at Audu Bako College of Agriculture, Kano State, says Nigeria has the potential to produce 20 million litres of honey annually.

Abbas made the disclosure in Katsina yesterday in an interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

He spoke to NAN after a three-day training on poultry, fisheries and bee-keeping organised for members of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).

‘‘The current production of honey liquid in Nigeria is two million but the expected production is 20 million. We have the potential to produce that because majority of bee species in Africa reside in Nigeria due to favourable climatic conditions. However, Tanzania and Kenya produce more honey than Nigeria,’’ he said.

He stated that Adamawa, Kogi, Nasarawa, and Kaduna states as well as the Federal Capital Territory were producing most of the nation’s honey.

Abbas expressed regret that Nigeria was producing below its capacity in honey due to lack of commitment from government. (NAN)