Lagos lawyer Femi Falana (SAN) has urged the Federal Government to recover over $200 billion stolen wealth instead of taking a loan of $3.5 billion from the World Bank and the African Development Bank (ADB).
Falana said if government refused to accede to the request, “we shall have no alternative than to initiate legal proceedings at the Federal High Court with a view to restraining the Federal Government from further plunging the nation into external indebtedness”.
The request was contained in an April 8 letter, addressed to the minister of Finance, titled: “Request for the collection of outstanding revenue of $200 billion withheld from the federation account or stolen by looters”.
In his initial letter to the minister dated February 12, the lawyer urged the Federal Government to explore alternative sources of raising revenue to fund the 2016 budget, instead of increasing the nation’s external debt of $64 billion.
He had also requested the Federal Government to recover the $42 billion withheld from the Federation Account from 1999-2012 by some transnational oil companies, Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation and other agencies, noting that the minister, in her reply dated March 17, gave assurance that the issues raised were receiving attention.
“We were, therefore, surprised to learn that the administration had applied to the Chinese Government for another loan of $2 billion. In urging the Federal Government to desist from taking the loan of $2 billion from China or any other country, we are compelled to advise the Federal Government to intensify efforts to recover the nation’s wealth, which has been criminally diverted by a handful of local and foreign looters”, he said.
Falana advised government to direct the relevant agencies and the anti-graft bodies to collect the stolen wealth, and listed 17 areas where such funds will be collected.
According to him, “the National Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative has confirmed that from five cycles of independent audit reports of NEITI, covering 1999-2012 the NNPC, some oil companies and certain agencies of the Federal Government withheld $20.2 billion for the Federation Account. The indicted oil companies and agencies should be made to remit the $20.2 billion into the Federation Account.
”In 2006, the Central Bank of Nigeria apportioned $7 billion of the nation’s external reserves to 14 Nigerian banks. In 2008, the CBN also gave a bailout of N600 billion ($4 billion) to the banks”.
He recalled “on September 6, 2016, the NNPC announced that arrangements had been concluded to recover $9.6 billion in over-deducted tax benefits from joint venture partners on major capital projects and oil swap contracts. Since the NNPC is said to have recovered $9.6 billion it should be remitted into the Federation Account”.
Falana said Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited since 2009 has been owing government $1.9 billion, being outstanding of the $2.5 billion charged the oil company for the renewal of licences adding: “From 1998-2014, the Federal Government collected over $4 billion from the over $5 billion stolen from the CBN by the late General Sani Abacha. I have submitted a petition to the Economic and Financial Commission to investigate the alleged criminal diversion of the recovered loot by some former public officers. The governments of the United States and Switzerland have promised to repatriate $458 million and $321 million recovered from the loot.
“In 1999, the Abdulsalami Abubakar military junta enacted theDeep Offshore Inland Sharing Contract Decree to give effect to certain fiscal incentives for the oil and gas companies operating in the Deep Offshore and Inland Basin under production sharing contracts. Thus, by virtue of Section 5 of the Act, the payment of royalty in respect of the Deep Offshore production sharing contracts shall range from four to 12 per cent while no royalty shall be paid whatsoever in areas in excess of 1,000 metres depth! Since the 15-year period for non-payment of royalties expired in June 2014, they should collect arreas of royalties running to hundreds of million of dollars owed by the oil and gas companies operating in the area”.
Other areas include “the abandoned $470 million contract awarded to ZTE (a Chinese company) in 2009 by the Federal Government for the construction of CCTV cameras in Abuja and Lagos . Hence, the cameras, which were installed, did not capture the criminals, who launched bomb attacks in Abuja, and killed scores of citizens. Since the contract was not executed, the Federal Government should recover the $470 million.
“In the Appropriation Act, 2011, N245 billion was earmarked for fuel subsidy. In violation of the budget law, the Federal Government fraudulently paid out N2.5 trillion ($16 billion) to a cabal of fuel importers. The investigation conducted into the large scale fraud by the Police and the anti-graft agencies was compromised due to pressure from the Jonathan administration. The EFCC should revisit the matter.”
He went on: ”For contravention of the law on compulsory registration of SIM cards, the NCC imposed a fine of $5.2 billion on MTN last year. Based on pleas by the MTN management and the intervention of South Africa, the fine was reduced to $3.9 billion, of which MTN paid $250 million. Since MTN has withdrawn the suit challenging the payment of the fine, the Federal Government should ensure the prompt payment of the balance of $3.65 billion.
“Under the ex-President Goodluck Jonathan administration, it was estimated that the nation was recording oil theft worth $7 billion to criminals annually. An investigation by a team of lawyers hired by the Federal Government confirmed that hundreds of millions of barrels of oil were stolen by oil companies and shipped to many countries. According to the lawyers, the amount recoverable by the government from the sellers and buyers, who stole Nigeria’s hydrocarbons and shipped same to the United States from January 2011 to December 2014, stands at $12.7 billion. Since the verification is programmed to cover 10 years, it is estimated that Nigeria can recover not less that $100 billion from the undeclared millions of barrels of oil shipped to the United States and other countries. The EFCC should collaborate with the lawyers to recover the missing fund and prosecute the transnational oil companies involved in the grand oil theft.”
