There is the N60 billion raised last year for the support of victims of terrorism?
That was the question yesterday amid reports that Boko Haram’s massacre in Baga was unprecedented, but it suffered huge losses in its failed bid to capture Biu in Borno State.
President Goodluck Jonathan was under pressure to explain where the cash had gone.
But the custodians of the funds sprang up to a robust defence of their operations. They said less than N14 billion had been collected of the N58.7billion expected.
The Federal Government on August 1, last year, told Nigerians that N58.7 billion was raised through the Terror Victims Support Fund (TVSF), to assist victims of terrorist attacks, who most times are left to fend for themselves.
The Chairman of the Fund’s committee, Gen. Danjuma, said the money was not to fight the anti-terror war.
Gen. Danjuma said: “All too often, the victims of terror are soon forgotten. The majority are the soft targets the terrorists prefer but unable to fend for themselves. The funds being collected are not for combating terror or fighting terrorist organisations, but for supporting victims of terrorists attacks.”
But amidst reports of abandonment of terror victims to fend for themselves, many Nigerians have wondered what happened to the money.
Senator Bukola Saraki was among those who called on the President to give account of the fund. He expressed worries that thousands of displaced persons were yet to gain access to the support fund.
In a comment posted on his twitter handle, @Bukolasaraki, the former governor insisted that the President had not lived up to his promise of ending insurgency. He called on his twitter followers to rate Jonathan’s performance.
He tweeted: “On Nov 11, 2014, GEJ said that he ‘will do everything humanly possible to end this violence.’ Rate his performance. What happened to N80billion Terror Victims Support Fund raised in 2014? Or is it N60 billion since they keep changing figures?”
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