Mr Ehiozuwa Agbonayinma, former Federal Commissioner of the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB), has called on journalists to conduct thorough fact-finding over reports that N34.53 trillion was deducted from the federation revenue between 2023 and 2025. He made the appeal on Saturday in Abuja during his investiture as Patron of the Association of Edo Journalists in Abuja (AEJA). According to reports citing World Bank data, 41 per cent of the N84 trillion total federation revenue was withheld before reaching the Federation Account. The Federal Ministry of Finance has clarified that the deductions were not missing or stolen funds but legitimate charges, including statutory transfers and security expenditures.
Agbonayinma, a former lawmaker representing Oredo Federal Constituency, praised journalism as a tool for national redemption and urged reporters to move beyond government narratives. He described investigative journalism as a service to humanity and emphasized that Nigerians deserved the truth. He stated that Nigeria was at a crossroads, with 66 years of independence yielding unfulfilled potential. Corruption, he said, was a "total cancer" feeding on the nation's institutions.
Agbonayinma called for unity across political lines and urged Nigerians to take patriotic action rather than wait for foreign intervention. He questioned why Nigerians abroad thrive while those at home do not. He commended AEJA for honoring him and pledged to support improved reportage.
A former anti-corruption official is asking journalists to investigate a N34.53trn revenue mystery the government says isn't missing—just deducted. If the funds were legally accounted for, the public deserves a full breakdown, not calls for more probing. Agbonayinma's past role at the CCB makes his appeal notable, yet he offers no new evidence to challenge the Ministry's explanation. Without contradiction or data, the demand for investigation risks becoming performance, not progress.
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