Enquiry commission: Katsina prepares white paper on Shema, others

The Katsina State Government is coming up with a white paper on the reports of the Commission of Enquiry that investigated the loss of government funds and property amounting to over N58.5b between 2011 and 2015.

The commission had indicted immediate past Governor Ibrahim Shema alongside top government officials at Subsidy Reinvestment Programme (SURE-P), Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, ALGON, state road maintenance agency as well as the Ministry of Environment, among others.

Speaking when he received the full reports, Governor Aminu Masari said already the process of the white paper had started.

“We believe if financial regulations were followed, it wouldn’t be like this. Natural mistakes are bound to occur but what we have seen since we came cannot be said to be natural mistake but deliberate actions individuals,”’ he said.

Earlier, the chairman of the commission, Barrister Ado Maaji, had told the governor that there was an increase of about N3 billion which now put the final figure of missing funds at N58.5 billion as against N55.6 billion from the interim report.

He said most of those mentioned in the 13 memos before it refused to avail themselves but were instead ‘running in and out of the state instituting one form of action or the other against the commission.’ of