BY Fredrick Nwabufo
President Muhammadu Buhari says his government has identified the “banks, financial institutions and countries in which payments for stolen Nigerian crude oil have been deposited”.
He observed that the funds were payments for stolen crude oil.
While on a visit to the United States in July, Buhari had said that his government uncovered “massive” fraud in the sale of the nation’s major natural resource.
He had said that some ministers in the immediate past government were selling 1 million litres of crude oil illegally every day.
Speaking at an audience with visiting United States congressmen, Buhari acknowledged the support and cooperation his administration was getting from the international community in gathering required intelligence for tracing and recovering stolen national resources.
“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,” he said.
“Some monies were paid to individual accounts. We are identifying the financial institutions and countries that are involved,” the president told the congressmen, who were led by Darrel Issa.
“I have been assured that when we get all our documents together, the United States and other countries will treat our case with sympathy.”
Buhari said his administration would 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.
Darrel assured President Buhari that the United States would 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.
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