One of the major issues every new government in Nigeria (both at the local, state and federal level) encounters is the recovery of public/ official properties from the previous officeholders; those properties that were assigned to them to aid them in the stress-free discharge of their official functions.
It is embarrassing to see that men and women who served in government and who claimed to be people of integrity will steal public properties adding to the public funds they have been pilfering while in active service. It is expected of you as a past public official; whether elected or appointed that as a matter of Integrity, morality and ethics it is expected of you that after your time in the office, you take your personal belongings and leave the official properties behind for the office. It is both unethical and criminal to take what does not belong to you.
You cannot resign from your job or get sacked in an organization and you also want to go along with the company’s property, unless the company gifted you those items, you can be prosecuted for the crime of stealing, but since it is government properties people are now seeing coveting them as a normal thing; no, it’s not, that’s stealing and I am here to remind you that you are a thief.
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Nigerian politicians are fond of converting public or official properties into their personal private use after they have left office. Official properties are properties of the public and it was purchased with taxpayers’ money and should therefore be returned after your time in office, anything other than that amounts to stealing.
The Abia state government is currently chasing around immediate past public officials to return public properties in their confers. The state governor had to issue an ultimatum some days ago threatening to take drastic action against past officials who refuse to return any public property with them. It should not always be like this.
Same goes with past state governors. Some governors will hand over power and will refuse to return official vehicles and vacate official residences they were assigned to, converting them into private use. The immediate past governor of Zamfara State, Bello Matawalle refused to return government vehicles even after much pleadings from the new government, the new governor had to send police to his house some days ago to recover some government-owned vehicles. About 40 official vehicles, some of which were newly purchased and never been used were recovered from his residence.
The system where past administrations will have to sweep the confer and loot both finances and material things or whatever is left once they are about to leave office leaving the new administration with an empty treasury is criminal and officials who have been engaging in this crime should be prosecuted. Law enforcement agencies need to start going after past government officials; whether elected or appointed who after leaving office refuse to hand over official vehicles, residences, gadgets etc back to the government because it is criminal.