Buhari Begs World Bank To Facilitate Speedy Repatriation Of Stolen Funds

BEVERLY HILLS, April 27, (THEWILL) – President Muhammadu Buhari has urged the World Bank to do all it can to facilitate the speedy repatriation of funds stolen from Nigeria which are still being held by Swiss authorities.

He noted that the recovery of the additional $320 million in Switzerland, identified to have been illegally taken from Nigeria under the Abacha administration, will help to ease the current economic hardship facing the country.

According to a statement issued by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, the President made this demand on Wednesday at a meeting with the visiting Managing Director of the World Bank, Ms. Sri Mulyani Indrawati.

Buhari assured Ms Indrawati that his administration was taking appropriate steps to ensure that public funds are no longer stolen or misappropriated by government officials.

According to him, ''we need the support of the World Bank for the repatriation of the funds.

“We are as concerned as the World Bank about accountability. If such repatriated funds have been misapplied in the past, I assure you that the same will not happen with us.

“Three hundred and twenty million dollars is a lot of money and we will not allow it to be misappropriated or diverted.”

The statement reports that one of the conditions given by the Swiss Authorities for the repatriation of the funds is that it should be expended on the implementation of social programmes for the benefit of the Nigerian people in an efficient and accountable way, guaranteed by the monitoring of the World Bank.

Buhari also assured the World Bank Managing Director that his administration will honour all agreements with the Bank that will help to stimulate Nigeria’s economy and reduce the level of poverty in the country.

He said that Nigeria will welcome greater international assistance for the rehabilitation of damaged homes, schools, health facilities and other infrastructure in the North Eastern states affected by the Boko Haram insurgency.

In her remarks, Ms. Indrawati told her host that the World Bank was ready to use its knowledge, expertise and resources to help Nigeria achieve faster growth and development.

The World Bank Managing Director, who assured Buhari that her institution “will strongly support you to create jobs and ensure prosperity in Nigeria,'' expressed the World Bank’s full support for the war against corruption being waged by the Buhari Administration.