Th e federal government has reached out to its United States of America counterpart to step up its assistance in ensuring that corrupt offi cials don’t get a safe haven abroad for their loot, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, has said. Speaking during a visit of the US Congressional delegation to the Presidential Villa, Osinbajo said the two countries were working on a prompt repatriation of the funds.
“We have reached out to the US government with respect with helping with repatriation of proceeds of crime and proceeds of corruption. “We have worked quite closely with the US government on repatriation of funds, we have seen some results”, adding that the Federal Government is hoping for more improvement in the process. “We think that this is very important because what tends to happen with corrupt public offi cials is that if they are able to fi nd a safe haven for the proceeds of their criminality, not only are they encouraged as individuals but there is the general feeling that if I am able to get the proceeds out of the country I might just get away with it.
“Th is is one of the reasons why we have taken several actions to ensure that we are able to deal with it because some of the major dislocations in the economy are on account of the problems that we have seen with corruption,” he said. Th e Vice President said the present administration regards “corruption as an existential threat” that must be dealt with from its root. On the return of the Chibok girls, Osinbajo said “it is a front burner issue for us all the time, there is no question of not continuing to negotiate and looking for the girls”. He expressed gratitude to God for the hope that the girls are still alive and would be released, saying “negotiations were continuing and government would keep looking for the opportunity to bring them back.”
