FG: WE'LL NOT ALLOW GOVS TO LOOT

Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Michael Aondoakaa, said
yesterday that the Federal Government has taken measures to ensure
that governors do not indulge in corrupt practices.

"We will not allow the new set of governors to be involved in
corrupt practices", Aondoakaa said in Abuja at a workshop on the
Validation of National Drug Control Master Plan.

The workshop was jointly organised by the NDLEA and the United
Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). "We will nip it in the
bud by strengthening theoperations of anti corruption agencies such
as the EFCC, ICPC and the NDLEA," he said.

He said the government would take preventive measures, instead of
waiting to arrest corrupt governors after their tenure."Those the
governors use in looting treasuries will be arrested because they do
not steal directly but indirectly. So those involved will be
arrested and prosecuted when the governors are in office," he explained.

Aondoakaa said trans-border crimes, money laundering,terrorism and
other forms of crimes were the resultanteffect of illicit drug
activities. He also said cultivation of Indian hemp, opium poppy and
coca plants, instead of cash and food crops, had their attendant
effects on the nation's economy. Aondoakaa said Nigeria would not
relent in the effort to tackle the menace of illicit drug
cultivation, trafficking and abuse

.In his address, NDLEA Chairman, Ahmadu Giade, said the workshop was
to initiate new techniques to counter sophisticated tactics of drug
barons." Nigerians have no business dealing in illicit drugs, given
our abundant natural resources."

It is unimaginable for anyone to ingest hard drugs knowing that a
little leakage in one wrap could terminate life in few seconds,"
Giade said. The Country Represen-tative of UNODC, Dagmar Thomas,
said 200 million people worldwide were estimated to have consumed
illicit drugs at least once in the last one year.

Thomas said about 254 drug couriers were arrested at the Murtala
Mohammed International Airport Lagos in the first quarter of 2007.
She said Lagos, Kano and Abuja International Airports, with their
direct flight connections to the Middle East, Europe and the U.S.,
as well as major ports and container terminals, required urgent attention.