Swiss Government to Return $300 Million Stolen Funds to Nigeria

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, that negotiations are ongoing with a number of countries on the modalities for the repatriation of some looted funds stashed abroad, and that the Federal Government had been in touch with Switzerland, which he said, had earlier repatriated $700 million to Nigeria. He noted that another $300 million that was recovered would soon be repatriated to Nigeria.

Speaking in an interview with journalists in Abuja, Onyeama stated that the Federal Government was in discussion with the United Kingdom, the United States, among other foreign governments around the world, on how all stolen funds could be recovered.

He said, “We are in touch with Switzerland; they have recently recovered quite a significant amount of money and I met last week with Swiss representatives to work out the modality for the repatriation of the funds.

“The Swiss government has already repatriated over $700 million from (the late Gen. Sani) Abacha loot and that agreement has been reached on how the money would be applied.

“They have also now recovered in the same context another $300 million of which there is ongoing discussion to have that repatriated as well. There are discussions with other countries; United Kingdom for instance, as you all know, is one of the countries we are discussing with on how to recover looted funds.

The minister explained that the goodwill generated by President Muhammadu Buhari’s visits to the US and other countries had helped in getting various nations to cooperate with Nigeria on the loot recovery drive.