Hurry up & return Nigeria’s stolen money
By Conor Gaffey
By Conor Gaffey
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari is demanding greater
international cooperation in returning hundreds of millions of dollars in
Nigerian funds hidden abroad. Buhari was elected in March 2015 on an anti-corruption
ticket and has pledged to reclaim billions of dollars allegedly lost to dodgy
dealings and mismanagement.
The West African oil giant has endured decades of
endemic corruption, with state funds being secreted abroad by public figures
including ex-military ruler Sani Abacha. The late general, who led Nigeria
between 1993 and his death in 1998, is suspected of looting up to $5 billion in
public funds during his reign. Switzerland recently agreed to return $321
million Abacha had hidden there, though the former ruler may have stored up to
$2.2 billion in European bank accounts.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry also pledged in March
that authorities would trace stolen Nigerian funds circulating in the U.S.
financial system, which Kerry said could total “billions of dollars.” Nigeria’s
Information Minister Lai Mohammed said in January that the country had lost
1.34 trillion naira ($6.8 billion) in stolen public funds between 2006 and
2013.
Nigerians are “becoming impatient” with the process of
repatriating stolen public funds, which has “become tedious,” Buhari said on
Thursday at a meeting in Abuja with the executive secretary of the United
Nations Office for Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Yury Fedotov. “We are looking for
more cooperation from the EU, United States, other countries and international
institutions to recover the nation’s stolen assets,” said the Nigerian
president, specifically mentioning the stolen proceeds from the sale of crude oil.
Nigeria is Africa’s biggest oil producer and the sector accounts for more than
90 percent of the value of the country’s exports.
In response, Fedotov said that the UNODC would give Nigeria
its support and cooperation in fighting corruption.
As well as the efforts to recoup funds from abroad, the
Buhari administration has ordered the country’s anti-corruption agency to
investigate scores of retired and serving military officials over alleged arms
procurement fraud and has culled thousands of ghost workers from the Nigerian
civil service.
A number of high-profile public figures from the previous
administration of Goodluck Jonathan have been put on trial, including
ex-national security adviser Sambo Dasuki, who is accused of orchestrating the
theft of $2 billion in government funds earmarked for fighting Boko Haram.
Dasuki denies the charges against him. The opposition People’s Democratic Party
has accused Buhari’s government of undertaking a witch hunt against its
members.
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