Buhari is currently enraged by the mega scam uncovered by one of the country's anti-graft agencies in the oil sector.
Muhammadu Buhari
Apparently believing that he had heard and seen the worst of how
corrupt practices have brought Nigeria to her knees, President Muhammadu
Buhari, last week, almost lost his cool when it was brought to his
attention that a whopping $16 billion at the official exchange rate of
N196, this comes to N3.136 trillion; while, with the parallel market
rate of N315, it comes to a whopping N5.04trillion) of the nation’s
crude oil revenue loss could be traced to some sharp practices by some
individuals in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector.
The quantum of funds in question are revenue that ought to have
accrued to the Federal Government of Nigeria through oil-lifting deals
which are now subject of intensive investigations. Specifically, one of
the arrow heads of the crude oil lifting scam, who has been invited and
interrogated by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, at
least twice before, has been granted administrative bail, and “who is alleged to be warehousing a sizable chunk of the money, drew the ire of Mr. President”, an Aso Rock Presidential Villa source disclosed.
Sunday Vanguard learnt that even visiting South African President,
Jacob Zuma, was caught in the cross winds of Buhari’s reinvigorated mode
of anti-corruption, as he ordered that every kobo of the stolen funds
must be recovered. Similarly, information suggests that the government
of the United States of America is helping in the provision of
intelligence on how to trace some of the stolen funds from Nigeria.
Benin Republic and South Africa have both become safe havens for
Nigeria’s stolen funds investigations have revealed.
$16BILLION
Sunday Vanguard learnt that once the revelations were made to
Buhari, he ordered that EFCC must ensure that the looted funds are
recovered. According to Aso Rock insiders, the funds were “supposed
to be proceeds from some of the crude oil sold on behalf of the Federal
Government of Nigeria by these people and for which they were said not
to have made the necessary returns to the coffers of the country”.
Continuing, one of the sources said: “You needed to have been
there. You needed to have seen Mr. President. He was almost moved to
tears at the colossal fraud that had taken place in the country. “He
became dejected because at a time when the nation’s resources had gone
down badly, at a time when the foreign reserves are also not as much as
would be befitting of a nation with vast potentials, such a huge amount
of money can be traced to the illegal activities of some people.
“But Mr. President has ordered that every kobo must be
recovered. Whatever it takes, he has made it clear that those funds must
be recovered.” Records of the oil-lifting schedules, timelines of
transactions as well as proceeds that were meant to have accrued to
government, the source said, “showed that some people just
constituted themselves into a parallel government and were just making
away with the nation’s resources.”
TRACING STOLEN FUNDS
Sunday Vanguard learnt that, as part of its bilateral agreement on
intelligence sharing and anti-money laundering surveillance, the
government of the United States is collaborating with the Buhari
administration on how to trace some of the stolen funds domiciled in
other countries – Benin Republic and South Africa have been identified
as safe havens. Part of the visit of South African President Jacob Zuma
was said to be on the apparent reluctance “of the South African government to repatriate some funds stashed in the country.”
It was discovered that whereas the Federal Government has relaxed its
forex policy, there has been a heavy movement of cash (in dollars) from
Benin Republic back into the system in Nigeria.
The simmering diplomatic row between Nigeria and South Africa,
sources disclosed, has more to do with the seeming unwillingness of the
South African government to repatriate alleged stolen funds that have
been traced to that country. “This was part of what President Zuma came to resolve with Nigeria during his visit last week,” Sunday Vanguard said.
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