It has been confirmed that Switzerland has agreed to return $321 million allegedly looted from the national treasury by the late military head of state, General Sani Abacha.
Abubakar Malami, the Attorney-General of Federation and Minister of Justice, who stated this Wednesday also revealed that Nigeria had recently recovered $85 million from the United Kingdom, saying the fund was part of proceeds from the controversial Malabu oil deal scam.
According to Salihu Isah, media aide to the AGF, Malami made this known at the opening of the Pre-Global Forum on Asset Recovery (GFAR) consultative meeting on the theme: Building an Ending Framework for Asset Recovery in Nigeria, held in Abuja.
Malami stated that with the conclusion of negotiation, both parties at the Global Forum on Assets Recovery would sign Memorandum of Understanding during a meeting coming up on December 4 in Washington DC, adding that the repatriation would follow within weeks as agreed by the parties.
The AGF also affirmed the need for the international community to ensure the implementation of the measures considered and adopted at the London Anti-Corruption Summit in May 2016.
He said: “The AGF also emphasised that Nigeria is more than willing to support the transparent return of stolen assets, urging the international community to improve on procedure for faster return of assets to enable Nigeria meet the Sustainable Development Goals.
“It is widely acknowledged that corruption undermines economic development, political stability, rule of law, social development, disrupts social order and destroys public trust in the governance system. It is an established fact that corruption which is linked to organised crimes, terrorism and insecurity is one of the reasons for underdevelopment”.
Malami reiterated that resources and funds meant for development of infrastructure in education, health and security sectors, among others had been stolen and laundered in different parts of the world.
“The Minister further reaffirmed that President Mohammadu Buhari in May, 2015 made a commitment to tackle corruption and equally focused on the return of stolen assets from various jurisdictions and that Nigeria had set a clear targets towards improving transparency in the management of assets through Treasury Single Account (TSA) and the Bank Verification Number (BVN), remarking that Nigeria had saved trillions of naira through these processes.
“Subsequently, under the United Nations Convention Against Corruption implementation mechanism, Nigeria was Peer Reviewed in May, 2017 by Myanmar and Cote D’Ivoire in the first year of the second cycle which covers areas of Preventive Measures And Asset Recovery.
“Nigeria has also implemented the United Nations Convention Against Corruption requirement through the development of National Strategy on Anti-Corruption and currently reviewing the anti-corruption laws, also the government has signed the Open Government Partnership initiative and completed the National Action Plan for its practical implementation in Nigeria, he said.
“He added that, he was pleased that the Civil Society Organisations were involved in the negotiation of the Memorandum of Understanding and would also be involved in monitoring the use of the funds.”
Rev. David Ugolor, the Director of African Network for Environment and Economic Justice (ANEEJ), noted that Global Forum on Asset Recovery established as an outcome of the London 2016 Anti- Corruption Summit hosted by former British Prime Minister, David Cameron, would build on the experiences of the Arab Forum on Asset Recovery (AFAR) and the Ukraine Forum on Asset Recovery (UFAR).
He said: “The core objective of GFAR is to convene practitioner experts to provide an effective opportunity for countries to cooperate on asset recovery cases.
“It also tries to highlight the importance of strong political commitment, multi-jurisdictional coordination and practitioner interaction. Its inaugural meeting will focus on assistance to four priority countries; Nigeria, Sri Lanka, Tunisia and Ukraine”.
Paul Arkwright, the British Ambassador to Nigeria, Eric Mayoraz, Swiss Ambassador and Michael H. Bonner, Senior Police Advisor, who represented the US Ambassador in their remarks, commended the Nigerian government for collaborating with Civil Society Organizations to fight corruption and in tackling illicit financial flows.
Similarly, Dr. Kole Shettima, Director MacArthur Foundation in his remarks, also praised the government for getting interest groups on board for the asset recovery drive, but wished that other parties like the Nigerian movie industry, known as Nollywood, as well as the media, among others, were involved, to be all encompassing.
