The Committee for the Review of Wasteful and Unnecessary Government Assets has recovered 70 vehicles from former government officials in Sokoto state.
Some of the vehicles were allegedly recovered from the wives and sons of the former Governor of the state, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal.
The chairman of the committee, Jelani Kalgo, while presenting their interim report to Governor Aliyu on Thursday said 745 vehicles were identified by the committee, 302 at the state level and 443 at the local government areas.
“We have so far retrieved 32 vehicles from former government officials, including Commissioners, Special Advisers and Chief Executives of Ministries, Departments and Agencies.
“And 35 heavy-duty vehicles hired out to private individuals within and outside the country by the local government authorities.
“We went round all the 23 local government areas and found out that, 70 percent of the 443 vehicles there were grounded.
“And the committee had discovered that about 40 vehicles were released on hire to private individuals and were taken beyond the boundaries of the local government areas; some beyond the boundary of the state and some beyond the boundary of Nigeria to as far as Niger Republic.
“The vehicles included 6 graders, 6 pay loaders, 3 rollers, 9 tippers, 4 water tankers, and 2 fire service tankers among others. This is very disturbing.
“We have invited all the stakeholders, including the local government chairmen, works Supervisors, and even the beneficiaries and we succeeded in retrieving 35 heavy-duty vehicles.
“Your Excellency, some of these vehicles were found hidden in five places at the state metropolis,” he explained.
Kalgo noted that the recovery could have been more than this but for shortage of fund and lack of court order
In his remarks, Governor Aliyu thanked the committee and assured them that, the government would study their report and take the necessary actions.
