Terrorism: Reps Call For Accountability On Victim Support Fund

house of reps

The House of Representatives, on Tuesday urged President Muhammadu Buhari to reappraise the modalities for the disbursement of funds raised for victims of insurgency to ensure probity, accountability and transparency.

This followed a motion sponsored by Reps. Asabe Bashir (Borno-APC) and Kamale Usman (Adamawa-PDP), which was unanimously adopted by members through a voice vote.

Moving the motion, Bashir said that ensuring accountability and transparency in the handling of the Victims Support Fund (VSF) would make stakeholders play vital roles in determining and assisting victims of terrorism.

Bashir explained that the Federal Government had released the sum of N5 billion from the fund in 2015 for servicing the victims.
He said that pledges to the fund running into billion of Naira were still being redeemed, adding that recent reports showed that the committee had disbursed about N500 million to victims of terrorism.

“But many victims, especially those in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states, are crying for assistance and dying in their hundreds without any form of assistance,’’ she said.

After the unanimous adoption of the motion, the house urged the Federal Government to direct a reappraisal of the modalities for the disbursement of the funds to ensure accountability and transparency.

The house also urged the Chairman of the committee, Gen. Theopilus Danjuma (retd), to constantly publish on its website, the names and pictures of the beneficiaries as well as the amount of assistance rendered. (NAN)