President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday in Abuja directed the Head of Service of the Federation, Mr. Danladi Kifasi, to facilitate the immediate release of the N5 billion pledged by the Federal Government to the Victims Support Fund (VSF), since July last year.
This came as the Chairman of the Funds Presidential Committee, Lt. Gen. Theophilus Danjuma (rtd.) threatened to publicly name defaulters in the pledge.
President Buhari’s order came after receiving a briefing on the activities of the Committee from Danjuma at the Presidential Villa.
Buhari said his government was making unrelenting efforts at stamping out insurgency in the country, saying that despite the challenge of acquiring the strategic equipment and weapons to confront the terrorists, the Nigerian military has recently showed enough strength in rooting out Boko Haram.
He added that the full deployment of the Multi-National Joint Task Force (MNJTF), under the auspices of member-states of Lake Chad Basin Commission, will further boost ongoing military operations against the insurgents.
Danjuma had earlier told the President that out of the N55.92 billion pledged at a fund-raising dinner for the Fund in August last year, N33.54 billion was still outstanding, including N5 billion from the Federal Government.
According to him, the VSF currently has N23.33 billion in four bank accounts, revealing that the government of former President Goodluck Jonathan gave the Committee approval to incorporate the fund into a Trust Fund, to “insulate it from political interference’’.
