GUNMEN suspected to be armed robbers have reportedly robbed officials of the Nasarawa State Ministry of Finance, Budget and Planning of the sum of N100m.

An eyewitness, who spoke on condition of anonymity on Thursday, told our correspondent that the suspected armed robbers trailed officials of the ministry from a commercial bank in Lafia where they withdrew cash in order to pay casual workers of the ministry.

The incident, according to the eyewitness, took place on Tuesday in Lafia on the premises of the ministry, adjacent to the state Accountant General’s office, where many security operatives were on guard for the state Accountant General.

 The source said, “It was on the ministry’s premises that the well armed men snatched the money, which we heard is around N100m, from the Finance Ministry’s officials while they were trying to dislodged the cash from the vehicle that was conveying it to the cash room.

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“In the process of snatching the money, the gunmen shot sporadically into the air, which made the ministry’s officials carrying the money and other staff of the ministry within the premises lay down low, paving the way for the gunmen to go with the money effortlessly.

 “Officials of the ministry wouldn’t want to expend the ministry’s resources on security operatives hence they neglected services of security agencies in day-to-day running of the ministry,” the source added.

When contacted, the state Commissioner for Finance, Budget and Planning, Haruna Ogbole, confirmed the robbery incident but said investigation was ongoing.

The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Ramhan Nansel, said the Command had yet to receive official information on the robbery incident.