{"id":100045,"date":"2022-10-06T19:34:37","date_gmt":"2022-10-06T18:34:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?p=100045"},"modified":"2022-10-06T19:34:37","modified_gmt":"2022-10-06T18:34:37","slug":"abacha-siphoned-5bn-to-west-%e2%80%95-buhari","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/abacha-siphoned-5bn-to-west-%e2%80%95-buhari\/","title":{"rendered":"Abacha Siphoned $5bn To West \u2015 Buhari"},"content":{"rendered":"
\u2022 Demands return of stolen assets, artefacts<\/p>\n
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President Muhammadu Buhari has told Western countries to return Nigerian assets, saying that trying to retrieve the money through the courts has proved to be a daunting challenge.<\/p>\n

Pointblanknews.com sited\u00a0an article by the President in\u00a0the Financial Times of London where he also called for the return of artefacts stolen in the country so that they can be used to equip the Edo Museum due to open in 2025.<\/p><\/div>\n

\nHe said the late military head of state, General Sani Abacha was thought to have stolen $5 billion, noting that after several delays to get the money back, the Federal Government was forced to take legal action against the UK National Crime Agency.<\/div>\n
\nHe stated: \u201cEarlier this year, Nigeria was forced to take legal action against the UK National Crime Agency, after repeated delays to the return of money taken out of the country in the 1990s by former dictator General Sani Abacha. However, the court case reveals the scale of the challenge before us.<\/p>\n

\u201cAbacha is thought to have siphoned off up to $5bn to the west. This case concerned just \u00a3150mn.<\/p>\n

\u201cGiven levels of corruption across Africa, there will be a concern as to whether funds returned will be used appropriately. But we should not forget that it was through western jurisdictions that the money was laundered in the first place.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot trusting Africans to spend their own money properly echoes the argument that we can\u2019t be trusted to look after our own cultural heritage.\u201d<\/p>\n

Buhari said the hold up of the stolen fund will make it difficult for the government to fund infrastructure development.<\/p>\n

He argued: \u201cNigeria also has an infrastructure gap to fill \u2014 as the World Bank and other international development institutions have highlighted. Though my administration has undertaken the largest infrastructure programme since our country gained independence, the hold-up in repatriating stolen assets held in the west will make it difficult to finance new projects that help to alleviate poverty.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn 2017, Switzerland returned $321mn to Nigeria\u2019s Social Investment Programme to fund the national social safety net. Monitored by the World Bank, the money has now been disbursed through conditional cash transfers to 1.9mn of Nigeria\u2019s most vulnerable citizens.<\/p>\n

\u201cThree years later, the US and the British Channel Island dependency of Jersey returned $311mn to the Presidential Infrastructure Development Fund, managed by the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority. The first projects financed by the fund, expressways and bridges, are due to be completed later this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith stolen assets, the precise means by which institutions return such funds \u2014 whether they deliver them to the state, a government, an ad hoc fund or some other body \u2014 elicit endless discussion rather than action. We know corruption persists across Africa, as it does across the world. But we cannot afford to wait for unspecified \u201cprogress\u201d to be achieved before this money is released.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the stolen artefacts, President Buhari remarked that Nigerians were delighted by the news this summer that 72 artefacts, known as the Benin Bronzes, held by the Horniman Museum in London were returning home, 125 years after being plundered by British troops.<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cThe clamour for repatriation of looted treasures is becoming irresistible. There was once a similar clamour for the return of Africa\u2019s stolen assets, and I see both as part of the same struggle to bring back to Nigeria what is rightfully ours.<\/p>\n

\u201cSiphoned from the continent by corrupt former leaders, countless billions remain stashed in western bank accounts.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough Nigeria has arguably been the most successful among African nations in securing the return of stolen money, it has recovered only a fraction of what remains in the west.\u201d<\/p>\n

He further averred: \u201cIn the case of both looted cultural heritage and stolen assets, western museums and authorities largely seem to agree that the loot should, in principle, be handed back.<\/p><\/div>\n

\n\u201cHowever, the technicalities of repatriation leave plenty of room for maintaining the status quo.<\/p>\n

\u201cMuseums say that treasures should be returned if it can be proved that they were looted. Of course, they argue, it is a different matter if artefacts were acquired through purchases and other legitimate means.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut it is the same museums that are responsible for assessing the provenance of artefacts. They have a vested interest in keeping them, encouraging a lackadaisical approach and murky criteria.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn 2025, a new museum will open to showcase the treasures of the Kingdom of Benin. Designed by Ghanaian-British architect David Adjaye, the Edo Museum of West African Art will sit in Benin City, the former capital of the Edo kingdom.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut without the return of more bronzes held in the west, we may struggle to fill the museum.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u2022 Demands return of stolen assets, artefacts President Muhammadu Buhari has told Western countries to return Nigerian assets, saying that trying to retrieve the money through the courts has proved…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":100046,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-100045","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\nAbacha Siphoned $5bn To West \u2015 Buhari - Pointblank News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/abacha-siphoned-5bn-to-west-\u2015-buhari\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Abacha Siphoned $5bn To West \u2015 Buhari - 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