President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday, August 3, shed the light on the steps currently being taken by his administration to recover looted Nigerian funds.
The Nigerian leader made a disclosure when he hosted the US congressmen led by Darrell Issa at the presidential villa in Abuja.
The president claimed that his government had taken measures to identify the banks and countries where the stolen monies had been lodged.
Buhari also expressed appreciation to the international team supporting Nigeria in gathering the required intelligence for the purpose of returning the funds.
He was quoted as saying:
“We are getting cooperation from the international community, including information on ships that take crude oil from Nigeria and change direction, or pour their contents into other ships mid-stream.
“Some monies were paid to individual accounts. We are identifying the financial institutions and countries that are involved.
“I have been assured that when we get all our documents together, the United States and other countries will treat our case with sympathy.”
Regarding further bilateral cooperation, President Buhari noted that his administration would encourage more regular meetings of the Nigeria-United States Bi-National Commission to ensure effective anti-terrorism war and economic relations.
Mr Issa, on his part, noted:
“We look forward to helping you in many ways to end the Boko Haram insurgency and the theft of crude oil in the Gulf of Guinea.”
It should be recalled that last week’s reports provided that the US official had given President Buhari the list with names of Nigerian oil thieves in the course of his visit to America. Several sources, who pleaded for anonymity, confirmed the information. While some said the list would be made public, the others insisted that Buhari would keep it “to himself”. However, it was noted that the country number one politician was resolved to punish those involved in funds stealing.
