President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration has identified banks, financial institutions and countries in which payments for stolen Nigerian crude oil have been deposited.
Buhari, who disclosed on Monday while speaking at an audience with visiting United States Congressmen, acknowledged the support and cooperation of the international community in gathering required intelligence for tracing and recovering Nigeria’s stolen
Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr Femi Adesina, in a statement, said the president had told the Congressmen led by Rep. Darrel Issa of the tremendous progress made on that score.
“We are getting cooperation from the international community, including information on ships that take crude oil from Nigeria and change direction, or pour their contents into other ships mid-stream.
“Some monies were paid to individual accounts. We are identifying the financial institutions and countries that are involved.
“I have been assured that when we get all our documents together, the United States and other countries will treat our case with sympathy,’’ the President told the Congressmen.
President Buhari also told the Congressmen that his Administration will welcome more regular meetings of the Nigeria-United States Bi-National Commission.
He noted that the Commission could serve as a more useful platform for the promotion of bilateral trade and economic relations as well as joint cooperation in the war against terrorism.
Rep. Darrel assured President Buhari that the United States will support Nigeria against Boko Haram by providing training, intelligence and military platforms.
“We look forward to helping you in many ways to end the Boko Haram insurgency and the theft of crude oil in the Gulf of Guinea,’’ he said.
Nigeria, the world’s seventh largest producer of crude oil, accounts for about 68.1 per cent of the total revenue Africa lost in a decade as a result of illegal transfer of funds abroad.
Several reports indicate that stolen Nigerian oil worth billions of dollars is sold every year on international markets and much of the proceeds are laundered in world financial centers like Britain and the United States which officials said will help President Buhari to recover the funds. A report by London-based Chatham House put the volume of stolen crude from pipelines in the Niger Delta at about 100,000 barrels per day (bpd) excluding the unknown quantities stolen from export terminals.Some put the figure as much higher.
