“I thank international intelligence for tracing stolen oil money”- Buhari

Speaking at an audience with visiting United States Congressmen, President Buhari acknowledged the support and cooperation his administration was getting from the international community in gathering required intelligence for tracing and recovering stolen national resources.

President Muhammadu Buhari, in Abuja said that his administration has identified banks, financial institutions and countries in which payments for stolen Nigerian crude oil have been deposited.

The President, according to a statement signed by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr Femi Adesina, told the Congressmen led by Rep. Darrel Issa: “We are getting cooperation from the international community, including information on ships that take crude oil from Nigeria and change direction, or pour their contents into other ships mid-stream. Some monies were paid to individual accounts. We are identifying the financial institutions and countries that are involved. I have been assured that when we get all our documents together, the United States and other countries will treat our case with sympathy.”

President Buhari told the Congressmen that his Administration will welcome more regular meetings of the Nigeria-United States Bi-National Commission. He noted that the Commission could serve as a more useful platform for the promotion of bilateral trade and economic relations as well as joint cooperation in the war against terrorism.

Rep. Darrel assured him that the United States will support Nigeria against Boko Haram by providing training, intelligence and military platforms.

“We look forward to helping you in many ways to end the Boko Haram insurgency and the theft of crude oil in the Gulf of Guinea,” he said.

Nigeria, the world’s seventh largest producer of crude oil, accounts for about 68.1 per cent of the total revenue Africa lost in a decade as a result of illegal transfer of funds abroad.

N10.08trillion lost in 10 years

The report of the Thabo Mbeki High Level Panel on Illicit Financial Flows from Africa adopted by African Union Heads of State and Government at their summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia said about $40.9billion (about N6.87trillion) of an estimated $60billion (about N10.08trillion) lost through such transfers from Africa in a decade (2001-2010) was traced to Nigeria.

The funds are stolen through corruption, tax evasion and illegal transfer of profits by multinationals, the AU said. Nigeria, which produces an average of 2.3million barrels of oil daily as the leading hydrocarbon producer in Africa, is being ravaged by poverty and underdevelopment. Cumulatively, Nigeria and Egypt topped the list of 10 African countries by illicit financial transfers between 1970 and 2008, with $217.7billion (about N36.57trillion), or 30.5 per cent, and $105.2billion (about N17.67trillion), or 14.7 per cent respectively, while South Africa had $81.8billion (about N13.74trillion), or 11.4 per cent.

In its 15-point findings, the panel noted that ending illicit financial flows is a political decision by the various governments as it involved issues of abusive transfer pricing, trade mis-invoicing, tax evasion, aggressive tax avoidance, double taxation, tax incentives, unfair contracts, financial secrecy, money laundering, smuggling, trafficking and abuse of entrusted power.

The interrelationships of these issues, it stated, conferred a technical character requiring transparency across all aspects to ensure access to information and the right to obtain such information.