Nigeria has called on the United States to quickly release $550 million part of the Abacha loot it currently withheld.
This was revealed yesterday at a media parley was jointly organised by PACAC and the Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Foreign Affairs and the Diaspora.
The Chairman of Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC) Itse Sagay, at the brief said that Nigeria stands to lose another $550 million recovered from the Sani Abacha family, contrary to the earlier promise by the United States to return the loot to Nigeria.
The money, he said represented a tranche from the $480 million forfeited to the U.S. following a court judgment in August 2014.
Some countries, including the United States, have given stringent conditions for repatriation of stolen cash. This, said Sagay, contradicts their promises made.
“Between 1960 and 1999 when the country returned to democratic rule for instance, over $400 billion was stolen by public officers and laundered outside the country. Money stolen by Abacha’s family alone and stashed away in foreign country was estimated to be about 2-3 per cent of Nigeria’s GDP for every year that Abacha was president.
“At the time of his death, Abacha’s assets were allegedly worth over $4 billion. These funds are just a fraction of Nigeria’s stolen wealth stashed away in foreign countries which can be traced”, Mr. Sagay said.
“Any return will go a long way in helping Nigeria resolve the myriad of challenges it is confronted with, ” he added.
Abike Dabiri-Erewa, the SSA to the President on Foreign Affairs said there is a huge difference between asset recovery and asset return, stressing that the person who steals is same as the person who refuses to return what was stolen.
“America has over $400million Nigerian money in its coffers, we should join hands in demanding the return of this money. It is against the UN Convention on Corruption, so we should ensure that whatever belongs to Nigeria should be returned. It is our fight, not just Buhari’s fight”, Mrs. Dabiri-Erewa said.
Also speaking, the chief of staff to the chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Olaolu Koyede, said that prevention is the best way to fight corruption.
“We are still talking about Abacha loot, which is up to 20 years. Our take is that we need to strengthen our internal capacity so that these monies won’t be looted and moved away. “The moment the money is moved out of the country, it changes form and becomes very difficult to be returned”, Mr. Koyede added.
Nigeria stands the risk of forfeiting a hefty N218.3 billion ($550 million) already recovered from Mr Abacha’s estate if a suit filed by an American-based Nigerian lawyer against the Nigerian government in a United States federal court is not quickly resolved in favour of Nigeria.
Texas-based attorney, Godson Nnaka, who was contracted by the Nigerian government in 2004 to help find and recover the funds siphoned by Mr Abacha and his associates, has asked the court to appoint him a private attorney of the fund as well as award him 40 per cent of the recovered fund. He claimed he made the request in line with United States law.
