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The need to push harder
(The PUNCH) |
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Goddy Egene
When President Olusegun Obasanjo came to power in 1999, he did not hide his determination to recover all monies looted by the late military Head of State, Gen. Sanni Abacha.
A total of $3billion was traced to the accounts of the former maximum ruler, and about $2billion has been repatriated since the administration of former Head of State, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar, till date.
The Finance Minister, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, disclosed that about N133billion of the Abacha loot was still trapped in foreign countries. This disclosure is somehow disturbing, given the fact that efforts to trace and recover these funds have not yielded the desired results.
While some of the funds have been traced to Switzerland, and the Nigerian government got a boost from a ruling by the Supreme Court of the country, the Swiss government had refused to repatriate about $500million still in that country.
But the Swiss government’s reluctance to part with the money may be understandable, considering that withdrawing such amount from the financial system could mean digging a significant hole in the vaults of some banks.
Besides, the Nigerian government may not be aware of the terms at which the funds were deposited in the foreign banks. This implies that the government needs to do more.
However, the government appears to have shot itself in the foot by setting Mohammed Abacha free without a concrete commitment from him to facilitate the repatriation of all monies stashed away by his father. If such commitment had come from him, tracing the funds would have been easier.
The government can employ fresh tactics. One of the major reasons some of the foreign countries have refused to cooperate with Nigeria on the repatriation of the looted funds is non-accountability on how the $2billion so far recovered, was spent.
The common man, who has heard a lot about the looted funds, has not felt any tangible impact of how the recovered monies were expended. The foreign countries are feeling the same way too. This feeling need to be corrected by the government, by coming out to tell Nigerians how the monies were spent.
The same transparency is needed for the much talked about debt forgiveness. The government should step up accountability in public funds administration and the anti-corruption crusade. Similarly, the high level of profligacy among leaders should be eliminated if we are to convince the creditors that Nigeria deserves debt forgiveness.
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