REPATRIATION OF NIGERIA'S STOLEN WEALTH: BY UWAKWE ROLAND C.O

Vilfred Pareto once said of his native Italy that “to live in this country, one must be either a thief or a friend of thieves”. What Pareto said of Italy many years ago is true of Nigeria as no political office holder could be said to be free of this ugly plague that have destroyed the social, political and economic spheres of the society, hence the recent statement by the British Prime Minister David Cameron, that Nigeria is “fantastically corrupt” is not far from the truth. Albeit, it should not have come from a British PM considering his country’s level of complicity in the underdevelopment of Nigeria right from the pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial periods.

Apart from shoplifting the money meant for the development in their different communities, most Nigerian leaders commit double tragedy by investing the funds in other parts of the world at the detriment of more pressing needs at home, it is estimated that over 400 billion US dollars and other properties owned by Nigerian leaders are stored in most European nations, our leaders succeed in this undesirable investments because most of European nations including Britain offer safe havens for such funds.

President Buhari while addressing world leaders at the 70^th General Assembly of UN, urged world leaders to redouble their efforts to strengthen mechanism for dismantling safe havens for proceeds of corruption, saying that corruption and cross border financial crimes are impediments to development, economic growth and the realization of the well-being of citizens across the globe. The President also reaffirmed this belief at the recent anti-corruption summit organized by the British government.

However, apart from speaking in summits, conferences and workshops the President should engage the leaders of different nations in bilateral agreements like the one Nigeria had with United Arab Emirates, UAE that created mutual legal assistance on criminal and commercial matters which includes the recovery and repatriation of stolen wealth.

All over the world, countries are fighting corruption but the level of commitment differs, hence the President must work assiduously to encourage world leaders to quickly return such ill-gotten wealth back to Nigeria for the nation’s development. Therefore every well-meaning Nigeria must support President Buhari’s move in steaming the trend of wealth transfer and in making sure that these funds are brought back for the progress of the nation.