Nigeria is seriously in need of foreign currency, especially the almighty American dollar which can easily transform its economy. Proceeds from crude oil, practically the sole commodity exported to earn foreign exchange, are grossly inadequate to cater for the large appetite of Nigerians who appreciate anything foreign in preference to locally produced materials. While the lingering foreign exchange crisis puts serious stress on the economy with attendant inflation and hardship, occasioned by high cost of living, the country’s apex bank finds it difficult, if not impossible to source foreign exchange to countless business men and women. However, Nigeria could easily overcome this predicament if large amount of dollars, stolen from its coffers, more than two decades ago, are repatriated back to their origin.
The United States and Switzerland have reported that they are keeping hundreds of million of dollars reportedly stolen by a former Nigeria’s Military Head of State, General Muhammadu Sani Abacha, but are not in any haste to return them to the rightful owners. The United States Government is holding back a whopping sum of four-hundred-and-fifty-eight million dollars of the Abacha loot, but that amount would only be released to Nigeria after a lawyer that represented Nigeria in the suit that led to the forfeiture of the loot has his legal fees fully paid.
Under the United States law, the States Department of Justice identifies stolen and corruptly-obtained assets, and then institute legal action known as forfeiture proceedings to confiscate such assets. At the end of the forfeiture proceedings the court orders the confiscated assets to be handed over to the United States Government which in turn returns them to the foreign country from where they have been stolen.
However, there has been an obstacle to the release of the huge sums stashed in the vaults of various banks in America, after a lawyer, Godson Nnaka filed an appeal against the judgment of forfeiture claiming that he was entitled to a portion of the assets as compensation for the legal services he rendered to Nigeria. According to Minister Malami, the United States Department of Justice has explained that the appeal was the only issue that delays the return of the four-hundred-and-fifty-eight million dollars as part of Abacha loot to Nigeria.
In that case, one may be tempted to ask why were the lawyer’s legal fees not paid as and when due, immediately after judgment was delivered? Was the lawyer engaged on terms and conditions that were silent on legal fees as he may have volunteered to offer his services free of charge for his dear country? Whatever were the compelling reasons the lawyer had for filing the appeal against the judgment he should have been persuaded to drop it, and arrangement for an immediate settlements of his legal fees made so that the money could be returned to Nigeria without further ado. It may not be too late to dissuade the lawyer to drop the appeal and source money from within the country and pay his fees without any hassle or bother. It is important to emphasize the fact that nothing should be allowed to stay in between Nigeria and its million of dollars which could be effectively used in solving the numerous economic problems currently afflicting it.
One more disagreement over the return of another tranche of three-hundred-and-twenty-one million dollars, also said to be expropriated by late General Sani Abacha, is now raging on in Switzerland, with the government of that country attaching conditionality for its return. Such conditionality have been hinged on the taming of pervasive corruption in Nigeria which the Swiss Government feared might cause the money it would return suffer the same fate that had necessitated its earlier flight.
It also insisted that a Memorandum of Understanding signed between the two countries must be implemented to the latter by allowing the World Bank to supervise the spending of the returned loot. Nevertheless, in 2005, seven year’s after the death of General Abacha, Swiss Government had returned the first portion of Abacha’s loot amounting to seven-hundred-and-twenty-two million dollars to Nigeria, It turned out that Swiss fear that the money would be fritted away was justified. It was squandered vide various corruption-related projects which did not impact positively on the lives of Nigerians.
However, in the event that the Swiss Government refused to return the huge amount of money it had been keeping for the past twenty years without any conditionality, as President Muhamadu Buhari has been prodding it to, the Federal Government should not hesitate to initiate legal proceedings for the recovery of the assets. That may, nevertheless, not be the desired option, for it is possible that was what the Swiss Government would want – a court case that may take several years on end to terminate, so that Nigeria could eventually be denied the use of the much needed dollars stolen from its coffers. It could, therefore, be said that legal cases in America and Switzerland are being used as absolute strategies to prevent this country from enjoying what rightly belongs to it.
