EFCC probes Jang for Plateau’s cash

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is probing ex-Governor Jonah Jang following his inability to account for billions of naira belonging to the state.Plateau State government, in a petition to the EFCC, said it discovered financial discrepancies after studying the handover notes left by Jang.A source said: “Under Jonah Jang as governor of Plateau State, N2 billion was released by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for Small and Medium Scale (SME) businesses in Plateau State. The N2 billion was released to Jang in April 2015, a month before the expiration of his administration. The money disappeared. And there’s no trace or evidence that SMEs in Plateau State benefited from the CBN fund meant.“The administration of former Governor Jonah Jang got N6.1 billion from the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and the Ministry for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs. “Jang collected N982, 526451.02 from the Plateau State government using a front company, Darmatist Consult, for a purported, non-existent recovery of N7.56 billion from Nasarawa State. The money was paid to Darmatist as a consultancy fee. “Under Jang, millions of naira was debited monthly from the accounts of the 17 local governments in Plateau State. Jang claimed the debited funds will be used to construct a five kilometre road in each of the 17 councils. But most of the roads were never constructed. Just a few councils in Jang’s Plateau North benefited from this scheme but the funds disappeared from the state accounts before the emergence of the Simon Lalong administration. ”The source added: “Questions are also being raised on how SURE-P funds were disbursed bythe Jang administration. As a matter of fact, Jang, in his handover notes, did not provide theinformation on how much was released, how much was received and what the funds were used for.“Also being investigated by the crimes commission is the suspicious double award of the computerisation of the Ministry of Finance to a Nix Technologies for N97,925,000 by the ministry. Nix Technologies is believed to be a front company, and the contract was awarded twice, and the money paid twice to them for same contract.”