By Saminu Ibrahim
The Attorney-General of the federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN) on Friday denied that recovery agents engaged by the office of the Attorney General are his agents, saying they are institutional recovery agents.
Specifically, the minister clarified that he does not have personal debt collectors for the recovery of Nigeria debts.
Malami, made the disclosure in a statement by his Special Assistant on Media and Public Relations, Dr. Umar Jibrilu Gwandu.
Read the statement in full:
The recovery agents engaged by the Office of the Attorney-General ofthe Federation and Minister of Justice are institutional recovery agents and not agents of Malami as being portrayed by some media.
Malami in his personal capacity does not have personal “debt collectors” for the recovery of federal government debts.
This clarification was contained in a statement issued by Dr. UmarJibrilu Gwandu, Special Assistant on Media and Public Relations Officeof the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, which was made available to newsmen in Abuja on Friday 22nd day ofMay, 2020.
For the avoidance of doubt, the Office of the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice does not engage recovery agents based on projected personal gratification or individual’s inclinations.
Hence, all those engaged by the Federal Government for undertaking certain tasks in the recovery of assets and generation of revenues belonging to the government did not belong to “Malami” as mischievously portrayed by some certain media outlets but Federal Government of Nigeria through the instrumentality of the office of the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice. Such engagements were purely based on the interest of the general public as a guiding principle.
The Minister reiterated his stance that engagement of recovery agents was neither propelled by any ulterior motive nor about gratification of any personal desire through any percentage to be given to or by the recovery agent, but of an unflinching patriotic commitment to get back to the country the revenue it deserves.
It is the same Federal Government that engaged the Trobell in the recovery of the unpaid Federal Government revenue that asked the agency to step down based on the stakeholders meeting held.
