21st July, 2015
Nigeria is trying to track $150 billion in funds stolen in the past 10 years, President Muhammadu Buhari disclosed in an opinion article for the Washington Post.
Buhari who arrived United States on Sunday to begin a four day official visit, said the mone, more than the budget of Nigeria for seven years is held in foreign bank accounts on behalf of former, corrupt officials.
President Buhari met with America’s President Barack Obama in Washington on Monday, and it is believed that how to repatriate the stolen money formed part of the discussions between the duo.
Buhari was elected on 28 March, 2015 on the platform of fighting endemic corruption and graft, and he has said the recovered money will be used to fund welfare and infrastructure schemes in Nigeria.
Wrote Buhari in the article: “There are too few examples in the history of Nigeria since independence where it can be said that good management and governance were instituted at a national level.
“This lack of a governance framework has allowed many of those in charge, devoid of any real checks and balances, to plunder.
“The fact that I now seek Obama’s assistance in locating and returning $150 billion in funds stolen in the past decade and held in foreign bank accounts on behalf of former, corrupt officials is testament to how badly Nigeria has been run. This way of conducting our affairs cannot continue.
“Indeed, the failure of governance, it can be argued, has been as much a factor in Nigeria’s inability thus far to defeat Boko Haram as have been issues with the military campaign itself.”
Read full Op-Ed written in the Washington Post