On Thursday, Lai Mohammed, Information Minister, reported that Nigeria’s financial crimes agency retrieved around $750 million in the domestic and international currency associated with corruption and fraud during the previous year in Abuja.
Nigeria, Africa’s biggest economy and energy producer, has survived for the last ten years with native corruption due to the political parties, which are constantly being criticized for extensive poverty in the nation.
The minister of information said, “During the last year, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) retrieved 152 billion Nairas ($366 million), $386 million and 1.1 million pounds sterling ($1.50 million), consisting of digital currencies”.
Initially, an investigation on corruption has started by the EFCC in Nigeria. As the matter is confidential, Mohammed did not disclose more details, like from whom or where the money had been recaptured.
But, he included that according to the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit analysis in 2020-2021, 96 financiers of terrorism and 424 associates had founded with almost 123 companies and 33 exchange bureaux in Nigeria.
During an interview in Abuja, Mohammad informed that “45 suspects were arrested after the analysis. They all will face prosecution”.
On the other side, President Muhammadu Buhari, during his second term in office, vowed to recover “mind-boggling” sums of money stolen from Nigeria. He took the pledge to fight corruption while being elected.
Since then, the nation has survived two downturns due to a sudden drop in global oil prices, requiring to recover lost money. Knowing the fact that,
Crude oil sales play a significant role in the national income and foreign exchange.
The information ministry also informed that $321 million is yet to be retrieved from Nigerians in the United States, Britain, Switzerland, and the United Arab Emirates.
However, last month Buhari prompted other countries and the United Nations to accelerate the procedure of recovering stolen money in abroad.
