Nigeria, Switzerland agree on $321m repatriation

By Bode Olagoke

Abuja

The federal government has said that it has concluded plans with the Switzerland government for the repatriation of $321 million looted from Nigeria.
Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Justice Reforms, Mrs Juliet Ibekaku, revealed this yesterday in Abuja at the conversation on anti-corruption campaign organised by the Centre for Democratic Development (CDD).
Ibeku said that Nigeria before now had no agreement or memoranda of understanding with foreign countries for the return of looted money, which she added necessitated why it took Nigeria awhile to initiate the process of discussion and recovery at the international level.
“So far, we have recovered part of the Malabu fund held by the UK courts. We are also working to finalise the process for the return of $321million and by December, we are going to sign the MoU for the return of the money held in Switzerland.
The Executive Director of CDD, Ms Idayat Hassan, said that the event was organised with support from the open society initiative for West Africa and the Department for International Development (DFID).
According to her, the event was organised to get answers to some questions on the recovered money, adding that it was obvious that tackling corruption remained one of President Buhari’s main priorities.
She said it was in line with the presidents’ vision that the event was organised, to provide a platform for constructive review and interrogate government’s approach to anti-graft campaign.
The executive director said the platform also sought to proffer alternative opinions for robust, effective and sustained interventions in the anti-corruption fight and effective usage of the recovered money.
She called on government to make more open to Nigerians the amount recovered so far and how the money was being spent to ensure more confidence from the people in its programmes and policies.

Leave a Reply