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Late Gen.Sani Abacha.
The Buhari government in Nigeria has announced that the $320 million stolen funds by the late Gen. Sani Abacha, would be spent on the Conditional Cash Transfer scheme to support the poor.
Speaking at the 8th Commonwealth Conference of Anti-Corruption Agencies in Africa, Nigeria's Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, said it was one condition given by the Switzerland authorities for the repatriation of the funds.
Professor Osinbajo who represented President Muhammadu Buhari said that The Global Forum on Asset Recovery facilitated the asset recovery and return.
The agreement states that the funds would be invested in one of the Nigeria’s flagship social investment programmes, the Conditional Cash Transfer scheme targeted at the poorest and most vulnerable households in our country.
The president declared that corruption had continued to be one of the greatest challenges in the continent and called for international collaboration to stem the“scourge”.
The president recalled another report in 2015 by the High Level Panel on Illicit Financial Flows from Africa, chaired by former South African President Thabo Mbeki, which stated that Africa had lost over $1 trillion over a 50-year period.
President Buhari said that, while public sector corruption is the usual focus, the private sector’s complicity is significant, such as when large multinational corporations engage in tax evasion or transfer pricing.
He noted that it was the complex web of public-private collusion and connivance that resulted in proceeds of corruption ending up in foreign countries and especially in their financial institutions and systems.
Buhari, however, expressed gladness on the renewed commitment to collectively identifying the most effective means of overcoming all of the existing legal and technical obstacles to asset recovery and return.
The president urged African countries to come together to keep the issue of asset recovery and return on the front-burner of international discourse and also work hard to build cooperation and mutual understanding with global partners.
He also called on governments of African States to adequately fund their anti-corruption agencies as the fight against corruption was far more sophisticated, vicious and nuanced than ever before.
Courtesy of NAN
