The federal government is now adopting a new approach to recover stolen funds stashed abroad, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, said on Wednesday.
Onyeama who briefed State House Correspondents at the end of the Federal Executive Council (FEC), meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari, said the approach is to negotiate directly with the Ministry or Department of Justice or other judicial agencies in those countries instead of hiring expensive lawyers, as suggested by former President Barack Obama of the United States.
According to him, other countries which have been working assiduously to repatriate stolen funds include the United Arab Emirates, Germany and Liechtenstein.
Asked of those what strategies being put in place to facilitate recoveries, he said, “We cooperated with David Cameron when he was the Prime Minister of the UK to organise a global conference on anti corruption. You know for a very long period of time, it was not a priority for industrialized countries to worry about money flowing from developing countries into their banks because as far as they are concerned they have their own image of rulers of third world countries, so the President’s strategy was to put it on the front burner for them to buy into.”
Speaking to a question on how much has been stolen from the country, Onyeama said, “On the issue of how much is stolen from the country, it’s an ongoing thing, we have been discovering all the time because you see the sophistication that there is today in hiding money around the world is amazing, even western countries themselves have a lot of problems and it takes them a lot of time and they discovered about the Panama papers, nobody knew about all those funds illegally stashed until you suddenly have the revelations under the Panama papers. So it’s really an ongoing thing and then new ones coming up all the time.
Onyema also gave highlights of Buhari’s engagements at the 72nd United Nations General Assembly, in New York.
President Muhammadu Buhari’s agenda at the just concluded 72nd United Nations General Assembly in New York was partly to seek the cooperation of world leaders for the repatriation of the country’s looted funds.
The president continues to express worries that despite strenuous efforts to retrieve monies stashed away various foreign bank accounts in Europe and America in particular, their governments were reluctant to assist his administration in repatriating them.
The President was said to also be unhappy that the foreign governments were introducing various technicalities to slow down effort to recover the monies.
Buhari is also alarmed that despite the ongoing anti-corruption war in the country, some governments are said to be demanding for firm guarantees that the monies if retrieved, would not be re-looted by corrupt officials in the country.
The Minister who defended the President’s address to the body, explained that it was meant for a global audience, hence contained issues of global concern but which also had implications for Nigeria’s wellbeing like security and economy.
“I think it’s misguided. First and foremost, he was speaking to the international audience on a global stage and the UN is there for global issues, so I think its absolutely in order because Nigeria is part of a global community addressing global issues. But he addressed all those issues covering also all the things that affect Nigeria as a country. When Mr President came in, he outlined three priorities security, governance anti-corruption and the economy,” Onyeama said, speaking on why Buhari’s presentation skewed towards the international community.
“On security, he addressed the security issues, he talked about the Boko Haram and the importance of the international community being engaged in that fight and also taking measures to stop ISIS infiltrating into the sub region, he talked about the humanitarian crisis and thanked the international community for what they have done so far in helping us in that context and also the importance of keeping an eye on that crisis.
“On anti-corruption which is a priority for us he called on the international community to insist and maintain good governance and he himself talked about good governance being a priority for this country and wanted the international community to key into it because we are looking to these countries to help us get the stolen funds back.
“On the economy, he is saying a lot of the conflicts in this world today are as a result of the nature of relationships between countries. You have those that have and those who do not have and we have to start looking for a more equitable society, economic equity, again this is part of what the sustainable development goals has as an objective.”
Onyinye Nwachukwu, Abuja
