“British Government Set To Repatriate Looted Nigerian Funds” – Envoy

The British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Paul Arkwright, has said the United Kingdom is prepared to repatriate looted Nigerian funds in its banks.

According to Arkwright, the British government has no intention of holding onto the money.

The High Commissioner told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja that the looted funds belong to Nigerians and should be returned to the country.

However, he drew attention to the legal requirements which Nigeria must meet in order to have the money back.

He said: “clearly, there are legal requirements that we have to meet. We are working with the Nigerian government to see what we can do to return those funds.

“They (money) will be returned, there is absolutely no doubt about it.”

He however did not say how much will be returned to the federal government.

Arkwright explained that everything was being done to fast-track the repatriation process.

He added: “The Prime Minister’s anti-corruption summit will be held in May, we are hoping that President Muhammadu Buhari will attend that anti-corruption summit in London.

“We expect that there will be some further news on how we can accelerate that process of repatriating the funds.

“I think we have no intention of holding onto this money, despite some of the reports in the press.”

The envoy, however, said there was the need to extract the commitment of the federal government that the money would be judiciously spent when repatriated.