The Nation Newspaper

Tag: repatriated

  • Looted funds must be repatriated, Buhari insists

    President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday said his administration will continue to persuade other countries to repatriate funds and assets stolen from Nigeria.

    He made the pledge during the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential campaign at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium in Enugu, the state capital.

    The President said: “Whoever is caught, we will persuade the governments to bring back the money and we will invest it in infrastructures.”

    Stressing the difficulty in handling corruption under democracy, Buhari said he is doing his best under the rule of law.

    He said that his administration, having made progress with the promises made in 2015, will continue to make the country a better place for all to live in.

    “We have no other country other than Nigeria; let us stay here together and salvage the country,” he told a crowd of supporters.

    The President recalled how the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) wasted the resources that accrued to the nation for 16 years, noting that more money would have to be devoted to education as one of the best ways to solve the nation’s problems.

    He said that his administration has made progress in agriculture as many Nigerians now consume locally grown rice and indigenous farmers profit from the development.

    The President pointed out that Nigerians will be encouraged to focus on their businesses without minding and would not mind who leads at the centre with developed roads, railway lines and power.

    “Let us work hard to develop our resources.” he stated

    APC National Chairman Adams Oshiomhole said that it was important to give President Buhari another four years in other to continue the good work he started.

    He said that those shouting rigging are the inventors of rigging.

    Oshiomhole, who noted that Obasanjo is at the forefront of those alleging rigging plans, said the former president never won any election in his Southwest base.

    The former Edo State governor said that anybody who believes in Buhari should also vote for other APC candidates in the state.

    Oshiomhole said that it would amount to anti-party activities for anyone to say “vote for Mr. President this way and vote for others that way.”

    Enugu State, he said, is not the birthright of any political party and that it is already tired of the opposition party.

    The President’s records and achievements, he said, are already speaking in his favour.

    The APC Campaign Council Director-General, Rotimi Amaechi, told the crowd that the government at its next tenure will approve railway project from Port Harcourt to Maiduguri, which will also benefit the state.

    He also told them that the fastest route for the Southeast to rule the country is by voting for another four years for President Buhari, pointing out that Vice President Atiku Abubakar will not leave the stage after four years if voted in as President.

    Asking his people not to stay on the fence, former Senate President Ken Nnamani urged the people to strive to be part of the Federal Government.

    “We should belong to the ruling party in Nigeria,”Nnamani said.

    He said that those who are alleging of plans to rig are the ones planning to rig the forthcoming elections.

    “They are the master riggers and that is why they are suspecting everybody,” he added

    He described the party’s governorship candidate in Enugu, Senator Ayogu Eze, as the envy of other political parties in the state.

    Speaking on the occasion, the governorship candidate insisted that the state belongs to APC.

    According to him, if there is election today, President Muhammadu Buhari will not score less than 80 per cent of the votes in the state.

    Eze said: “This state inspite of what you have heard is for APC. The people you see here are not rented but for the party. Nigeria is moving in one direction and Enugu wants to be part of it.”

    Imo State Governor Rochas Okorocha assured the President that the Igbos love him so much and he should reciprocate the love in all dimensions.

    “I called on all my brothers and sisters, Buhari’s victory in 2019 is signed, sealed and delivered,” Okorocha said.

    The President had earlier paid homage to the Ochiagha I of Akpoga Mbu, Igwe Princewill Ugwu.

    He urged the royal father to prevail on his subjects to support the ruling candidate to ensure victory for the APC candidates at the forthcoming polls.

    The President also commissioned a Centre of Excellence at the University of Nsukka, Enugu campus.

  • 3801 Nigerians have been repatriated from Libya, says envoy

    Three thousand eight hundred and one Nigerians have been repatriated from Libya, it was learnt yesterday.

    The social media played a role in the repatriation, the Nigerian Chargé d’affaires Entitre on Mission to Libya, Alex Kefas, said.

    Kefas, who briefed reporters yesterday in Abuja, said 165 Nigerians recently returned from Libya, totalling 3,801 so far repatriated.

    According him, 109 of the 165 Libyan detainees, who returned to Nigeria on Wednesday, were among the detainees, who posted the video on social media that went viral recently.

    “The 165 Nigerians returned from Libya yesterday, totalling 3,801 Nigerians so far repatriated.”

    Kefas said the operation was facing logistic challenge, as the group that arrived Nigeria yesterday, ought to have returned since August 8, a journey that had to be postponed twice.

    He said the Nigerian Mission in Libya is interfacing with Libyan authorities to fast track the process of returning Nigerians trapped in Libya.

    “A meeting between Libya and Nigerian officials took place recently at the office of the Libyan Minister of Interior Affairs, and a proposal has been put forward. By the time it is pulled through, most of the hiccups will be removed.”

    The ambassador appealed to the Libyan authorities to improve the condition of the inmates at detention facilities across Libya, insisting that there were medicare and nutritional concerns.

     

  • Switzerland: we’ve returned over $1b Abacha loot to Nigeria

    Switzerland has repatriated over $1billion Abacha loot to Nigeria, its Ambassador Eric Mayoraz aid yesterday in Abuja.

    He added that his country is collaborating with the federal government to trace and repatriate looted funds stashed in foreign lands.

    Mayoraz said “All fund hidden in Swiss banks by Abacha was fully repatriated and so we don’t have any of such fund in Switzerland again. $752m was returned in 2005 and we discovered more and more in other banks and that involved the $322.5m that was repatriated earlier this year.”

    He spoke at the Forum on Asset Recovery hosted by the Swiss Embassy to discuss issues surrounding the Abacha 2 asset recovery between the two countries with many non-governmental organisations and representatives of international agencies in attendance.

    Although the envoy declined to reveal details of the funds that would likely be repatriated back to Nigeria, he explained that the ongoing efforts are geared towards getting a positive result in line with the Mutual Legal Persistence Request agreement signed between the two countries.

    Decrying what he termed lack of transparency in the Nigerian government’s handling of the funds, Mayoraz said the Swiss government insisted on the involvement of the World Bank in the management of the $322.5m to ensure that money was spent to alleviate the sufferings of the poor.

    “Unfortunately, some of the assets that were returned, there was not so much transparency in it. So, we have to introduce the World Bank to get involved in this so that this particular one can be used by the Nigerian government with the monitoring of the World Bank”, he said.

    Special Assistant to the President on Justice Reform, Mrs. Juliet Ibebaku-Nwagwu, said the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari has done a lot to engender the confidence of the Swiss government and other partners that the recovered assets would be deployed judiciously and transparently in line with the agreements reached.

    She said the money would be deployed to service the Social Investment Scheme which is also an existing World Bank project.

    “Let me just say this, we just want our money back. By this administration’s commitment to open government partnership, we want the people to be involved in the monitoring of the stolen assets that were returned. We also came up with the open budget process so that Nigerians would know every budget details and they can be checked online too.”

    Executive Director of African Network for Environment and Economic Justice, Mr. David Ugolor, said there was a need to monitor the deployment of all recovered assets to “ensure that they are properly used for what they are meant for in Nigeria.”

  • 80,000 Nigerian refugees to be repatriated from Cameroon

    The Federal Government has signed a tripartite agreement with the UN High Commission for Refuge (UNHCR) and the Republic of Cameroon for the return of Nigerian refugees from Cameroon.

    The Director-General, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Muhammad Sidi, spoke when an AU Humanitarian Mission led by Dr Aisha Abdullahi, AU’s Commissioner Political Affairs, visited the agency in Abuja.

    Sidi, in a statement signed by Sani Datti, NEMA’s Information Officer, said: “80,000 Nigerians are taking refuge in Cameroon and are being catered for by the Federal Government”.

    He hailed the Federal Government, state governments affected by the insurgency, the UN agencies, non-governmental organisations and the private sector for supporting the refugees.

    The NEMA director-general also thanked all the development partners and donor agencies for working tirelessly in supporting the Internally Displaced persons (IDPs) and the government and people of Nigeria.

    Sidi said the organisations had “done a lot in the past four years to manage large numbers of IDPs in the North-East”.

    He said with the war against Boko Haram almost over, the stakeholders in the humanitarian response “have moved from the emergency response stage to recovery and resettlement of the IDPs”.

    He urged the visiting AU commissioner to use her office to seek more assistance and support for the persons and the states affected by the insurgency.

    Abdullahi had said the AU team was in Nigeria to assess the humanitarian situation and to discuss areas of possible support.

    The statement quoted her as saying that the displaced Nigerians were of concern to the AU.

    “The records available to AU indicate that there are about 13 million displaced persons and three million refugees on the continent.

    “I commend the efforts of the Nigerian government and the military for degrading and minimising the activities of the insurgents in the North-East.

    “The AU will continue to give more attention to the issues of displacement through interaction and focus on addressing the root causes of conflicts in Africa,’’ Abdullahi said