Jang’s Administration under EFCC Probe, Says Lalong

Onyebuchi Ezigbo

The Plateau State Governor, Simon Lalong, has said the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is currently on the trail of some key members of the immediate past administration led by Jonah Jang for alleged corrupt acts.

Regarding the labour crisis which which led to the inherited salary arrears owed workers in the state, Lalong said the new administration had been able to cut down the salary debt to just two months, adding that the labour union has withdrawn the litigation against the state government.

Speaking in an interview with THISDAY in Abuja, Lalong said his administration was keying into the anti-corruption crusade driven by President Muhammadu Buhari, and that such efforts have helped in the recovery of about N2.7 billion in the state.

“Recently, we recovered N2.7 billion in the state. That was money supposedly lost, but we traced the money which was meant for teachers. If you remember, teachers were not paid in my state for 11 months while civil servants were not paid for about nine months. When I came in, the judiciary was not there because everybody was on strike and it was like the government was dead,” he said.

The governor who was elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), further said his government was doing everything possible to purge the former administration of looted funds by putting pressure on the EFCC to fast track investigations on the cases before it.

“We have a lot of such investigations going on, we have also had so many arrest especially from the last administration, and many of them are on bail. At the appropriate time, prosecution will start. EFCC may be slow, but I know they will surely prosecute the cases.

“I have said iton many occassions that the fact that you have not heard anything from the state does not mean we are not fighting corruption.

“We have sent several cases to the EFCC and ICPC. My accountantgeneral just came back from the EFCC. They were called and he gave evidence as to the investigations that are going on.

“We had a transition committee and we came out and told the Plateau people what we inherited, some of them are genuine and others are not. We have submitted some of them to the EFCC and we also inaugurated a very reputable accounting firm, KPMG, which is currently auditing the state account books, and when they come out with the result, we will make it public.

Speaking on some of the achievements so far recorded by his administration, Lalong explained that apart from clearing most of the arrears of salaries of workers, the government has been able to curtail the insecurity in the state and that those areas which were hitherto no go areas are now free areas for people.