Why Nigeria is finding it difficult to repatriate stolen funds ―Saraki

Senate President Bukola Saraki said on Tuesday that the fear of mismanagement of looted funds has delayed the return of Nigeria’s funds starched abroad.

Saraki, who stated this in Abuja, while declaring open a Strategic Retreat on Tackling the Progress of Anti-corruption bills in the National Assembly, stated that foreign countries are afraid the funds would be re-looted adding that that is the singular reason they have been reluctant in returning the funds.

He said: “Nigeria is finding it difficult to convince other nations to return funds looted from our treasury. This is because of the other nations’ exasperation over the management of returned assets. Only recently, Mr. President inaugurated a committee to audit all assets recovered by various government agencies. “The National Assembly has been strident about the opacity shrouding the management of recovered funds which in many cases get re-looted by the agencies that investigated and recovered them.” He also referred to a motion on the floor of the Senate last week which is seeking to expand the scope of the investigation of the scandal of the re-instatement and return of former Chairman of the Pension Task Team, Mr. Abdulrasheed Maina into the civil service, to include investigations of allegations that recovered properties have been re-looted.

He said: “An adhoc committee of the Senate which is investigating some administrative infractions in the Executive has discovered that many properties recovered from a fugitive from the law, have not been
accounted for by the investigating agency.” He stated that the development is of grave concern to the
international community, adding that the foreign countries are therefore afraid to return the stolen funds, while also raising concerns on the national‘s commitment to the anti-corruption war.

“We must work hard to erase this global impression, because it is not a representation of who we are,” Saraki said. He assured stakeholders that the Senate remains committed to the anti-corruption war adding that the chamber would pass all anti-graft related bills including the Proceeds of Crime bill into law,

He stated that the Money Laundering Prevention bill being considered by the senate is being delayed because the stakeholders raised very serious constitutional issues, which he said have been forwarded to the Executive.

Chairman, Senate Committee on Anti-corruption and Financial Crimes, Senator Chukwuka Utazi in his speech, further expressed the commitment of the Senate towards ensuring that Nigeria is not expelled from the Egmont group, the global body that facilitates international cooperation in the fight against money laundering and financing of terrorism. The group suspended Nigeria  from its membership in July and gave the country up to December to comply with its standards or face expulsion.