By James Orji
Forget it, the federal government has told the Delta state government in its bid to recover the £4.2 million seized from James Ibori, a former governor of the oil bearing state, by the United Kingdom. The looted funds was, on Tuesday, returned to the Nigerian Government by the British government which has also agreed to repatriate tens of millions stolen under the Ibori administration back to Nigeria.
The development comes amidst disclosure, on Wednesday, by the Attorney General of the Federation and and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami that Nigeria has recovered and ensured the return of more than $700 million stolen funds within the last 4 years.
The AGF who spoke in Abuja, at the International Conference on IFFs and Asset Recovery organised by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC also noted that Nigeria and other countries in Africa lose over $148 billion to corruption annually.
The former governor who ruled the state between 1999 and 2007 was convicted by the United Kingdom government for looting several millions of British Pounds, belonging to the state, much of which were starched in shell accounts across the world.
The Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, had in March this year, disclosed that over £100 million (N527 billion) allegedly stolen by the former Delta strongman and his cronies is still being expected, insisting that the funds will not be sent back to the state when recovered because the crime that led to the diversion of the funds was a federal offence.
He said, “As it is we have succeeded in recovering £4.2m from the UK. We are still pursuing other assets even as it relates to the Ibori assets.
“The quantum of the amount involved was within the region of over £100m (N2.2bn) and it is out of it that we have succeeded in recovering a fraction of £4.2m and we are still pursuing an additional sum within the region of £100m (N527bn) and that will be a function of conviction and subsequent recovery process.”
The returned fund marked the end of several months of bickering between the state and the federal government on whether the stolen funds should be sent back to the state. But Malami, has ruled out that possibility, insisting that the funds will be used to fund critical infrastructure such as the Second Niger Bridge, Lagos Ibadan Expressway among others.
Malami spokesman Umar Gwandu, said in a statement on Tuesday that “The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN, signed Memorandum of Understanding for the repatriation of the Ibori loot on behalf of the Federal Government of Nigeria.
“The development, according to Malami, was a demonstration of the recognition of reputation Nigeria earns through records of management of recovered stolen Nigerian stolen in the execution of public oriented projects,” said Umar Gwandu in a statement.
The AGF later said that the looted fund has been received from the United Kingdom, saying that the “naira equivalent value” of the total £4,214,017.66 “has been credited into the designated Federal Government account” since May 10.
But speaking on a television programme on Wednesday, the nation’s chief law officer said that the agreement to channel the funds towards critical social infrastructure has been sealed and signed with the United Kingdom. He noted that efforts by the Delta state government to recover the funds cannot overturn the decision of the federal government on the issue.
He said Nigeria owes the repatriated fund to the magnanimity of the UK government, noting that the reputation of the Buhari’s administration as a transparent government also made the recovery to be possible.
“If monies were not looted down to the UK, the UK could not have a say as to what we do.“There is no legal action that can bring the UK back to renegotiation. As far as this agreement is concerned, it is signed, sealed and delivered.
“While some other countries were finding it very difficult repatriating monies, Nigeria has been having it so good arising from the reputation of the present government,” the AGF said.
On March 9, the federal government and UK government signed an agreement for the return of the money, which is about N2.4 billion at the current Naira exchange rate.
The agreement was signed under the auspices of the U.K.-Nigeria Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, which came into force in 2016.
