Attorney -General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Mr. Mohammed Adoke (SAN), yesterday disclosed that the Federal government owed a total sum of N40 billion naira in judgment debts.
Adoke ,who made this known during a meeting with the House of Representatives committee on Judiciary on the 2011 virement, also added that the ministry has accumulated a total of N3 billion legal fees this year.
Adoke said, “The figure was alarming, that was why the late president Umaru Musa Yar’adua set up the presidential committee on the verification of judgment debts.
“And now there is a very minimal increase in judgment debts because of increased man-power in the ministry.
The judgment debts now is about N40 billion”.
The? AGF expressed concern that Nigeria’s assets abroad were being attacked because of government’s inability to pay judgment debts funds, a situation which he said was embarrassing.
Going further, the legal luminary explained that it was because of possible manipulation and abuse by the Ministry of Finance that he moved payments of judgment debts to the Justice Ministry.