Indications emerged on Wednesday that the Federal Government may still be facing daunting challenges in persuading countries where Nigeria’s stolen funds have been safely stashed to repatriate them.
This much was gathered after the Federal Executive Council meeting, chaired by President Muhammadu Buhari who just returned from the 72nd session of the United Nations General Assembly.
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama gave clues to this when he said, Nigeria’s outing at the recent UNGA was successful by all standard, but that the only area where challenges seems to have persisted was the recalcitrance in repatriating the funds by some of the foreign countries.
He said new havens where these funds were being kept are still being discovered even as he complained of the sophistication and clandestine deals with which Nigerians laundered those monies abroad.
The Foreign Affairs minister could not put a figure to the amount stashed away and awaiting repatriation.
He said,”On the issue of how much is stolen from the country, its an ongoing thing, we have been discovering all the time, because you see the sophistication that there is today in hiding money around the world is amazing, even western countries themselves have a lot of problems and it took them a lot of time before they discovered about the Panama papers.
“Nobody knew about all those funds illegally stashed, until you suddenly have the revelations under the Panama papers, so its really an ongoing thing and then new ones coming up all the time, as you saw recently we never knew about the US eavesdropping on some telephone conversations of members of the previous government and private sectors talking about investments that were made in the United States, it just suddenly came out like that, so its an ongoing thing”.
When asked by State House correspondents strategies that were being put in place to recover the monies, he said the Nigerian President has largely raised awareness on issues of illicit funds stashed across the world.
Speaking on behalf of President Buhari, he said at least some industrialized nations which used to feign ignorance about illicit funds finding its way into their countries are more concerned now.
“When David Cameron was the then Prime Minister of the UK, Buhari cooperated with him to organise a global conference on anti corruption, you know for a very long period of time, it was not a priority for industrialized countries to worry about money flowing from developing countries into their banks because as far as they are concerned they have their own image of rulers of third world countries, so the President’s strategy was to put it on the front burner for them to buy into”
$70M ANNUAL DEBT PROFILE MAY FORCE NIGERIA TO EXIT 90 GLOBAL ORGANISATIONS
As a cost cutting measures, the Nigerian government has begun a process of exiting 90 international organizations out of 310 she currently belongs to.
FEC arrived at the decision as a result of backlog of $120 million in membership dues and other financial commitments amounting to an average of $70 million annually.
Other remote reasons for exiting the world bodies according to the Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun was the embarrassment the debts was causing Nigeria.
She revealed to State House Correspondents that on several international forums such as the recent UNGA, Nigeria was being reminded of the backlog of debts owed those bodies, some of which had no clear impact on the country.
She said the cabinet considered the report of an inter-ministerial committee which made the recommendations.
Adeosun kept mum on the names of some of the particular organisations Nigeria will be withdrawing from,noting that the inter-ministerial committee still had two weeks within which to review the recommendations after which a final decision will be taken by FEC.
Her words, “Basically Nigeria is a member of 310 international organizations and a committee was set up to review the rationale of our continued membership of such a large number of our organizations, particularly in the light of the fact that in many cases we are not actually paying our financial obligations and subscriptions which is causing some embarrassment to Nigeria and our image abroad.
“In particular, it was discussed that there are some commitments made to international organizations made by former presidents which were not cash backed. So when our delegations turn up at those organizations we become very embarrassed. So that was what drove the committee.
“The committee made some recommendations that out of the 310 organizations, 220 organizations should be retained and the rest we should withdraw membership from.
“But council directed that more work needed to be done, particularly there was a dispute as to the figure of how much is owed. The committee had a figure of about $ 120 million but we are clear from Ministry of Finance and other ministries that is far more than that. Our subscriptions are in arrears in a number of major organizations.
“So the directive of the council was that we should go and reconcile those figures and come back to council and have a payment plan for those figures to avoid Nigeria being embarrassed internationally. And also circulars needed to be issued on who can commit Nigeria because it was discovered it would be a director or an ambassador who attended the meeting who committed subscription on behalf of Nigeria. Of course then the international organization then begins to chase us for its money,”, she said.
Adeosun added that “We need to tighten up the procedures of committing Nigeria to any form of subscription or donations to international organizations.
“The committee are due to come back in the next two weeks with the final figures. And then ministers were then asked to look at the recommendations of those international organizations which we want to withdraw from and ensure that they are in support of those decisions before we will finalize the work on this issue.
“So basically, this is just prudence and value for money. Nigeria doesn’t need to be a member of every single organizations but those we are members of, we have made a decision as FEC that we must prioritize and pay our obligations because that is part of the nation’s image. That is what gives Nigeria as a country the right to sit up very straight at international meetings, when you haven’t paid up your subscriptions you can’t necessary do so.
“The subscriptions is $70 million per annum and there are lots and lots of arrears.”
INDEPENDENT however consulted Wikipedia which revealed some of the international organizations Nigeria is affiliated to as a member, they include: African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States, African Development Bank(ADB), African Union (AU), Commonwealth of Nations, Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Group of 15, G-19, Group of 24 and Group of 77.
Others are International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), International Chamber of Commerce, (ICC), International Civil Aviation Organization, (ICAO), International Criminal Court (ICC), International Development Association (IDA), International Finance Corporation (IFC), International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), International Hydrographic Organization (IHO), International Labor Organization (ILO), International Monetary Fund (IMF), and International Maritime Organization (IMO).
Others are International Mobile Satellite Organization (IMSO), International Olympic Committee, (IOC), International Organization for Standardization (IOS), International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement (IRCRCM), International Telecommunication Union (ITU), Interpol, Non-Aligned Movement, Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Permanent Court of Arbitration, United Nations Organization (HNO), United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTD), United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), United Nations Iraq-Kuwait Observation Mission (UNIKOM), United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITR) and United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNIAMK).
Others are United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (UNMRWS), United Nations Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina (UNMBH$, United Nations Mission of Observers in Prevlaka (UNMOP), United Nations Mission of Observers in Tajikistan (UNMOT), United Nations University (UNU), Universal Postal Union (UPU), World Confederation of Labour (WCL), World Customs Organization (WCO), World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU), World Health Organization (WHO), World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), World Meteorological Organization (WMO), World Tourism Organization (WTO) and World Trade Organization (WTO).
UNGA: HOW BUHARI ADVISED TRUMP TO DEAL WITH NORTH KOREA’S NUCLEAR THREATS
Foreign Affairs Minister,Geoffrey Onyeama also revealed more details into how President Buhari advised Trump to go about tackling the Nuclear threats coming from North Korean leader, Kim Jong-Un.
He said Buhari advised Trump not to see the threats as one between US and North Korea alone but that a high powered delegation be dispatched to dialogue with the latter.
According to Onyeama, Buhari spoke from a global perspective at the UN conference, especially on the nuclear issue because of the implications the nuclear threat poses to world peace.
He said Buhari acknowledged that the war of words between both leaders may not augur well for the global community.
Onyeama also lashed back at Nigerians who criticised the President’s speech as skewed to the international community when there were pertinent national issues in Nigeria unresolved.
He said contrary to such insinuations, Buhari’s presentation was all encompassing as it touched on anti-corruption, insecurity and the economy.
His words,”I think its misguided first and foremost was that he was speaking to the international audience on a global stage and the UN is there for global issues, so I think its absolutely in order because Nigeria is part of a global community addressing global issues. But he addressed all those issues covering also all the things that affect Nigeria as a country. Mr President came in he outlined three priorities security governance anti-corruption and the economy.
“On security, he addressed the security issues, he talked about the Boko Haram and the importance of the international community being engaged in that fight and also taking measures to stop isis infiltrating into the sub region, he talked about the humanitarian crisis and thanked the international community of what they have done so far in helping us in that context and also the importance of keeping an eye on that crisis.
“On anti-corruption which is a priority for us he called on the international community to insist and maintain good governance and he himself talked about good governance being a priority for this country and wanted the international community to key into it because we are looking to these countries to help us get the stolen funds back.
“On the economy, he is saying a lot of the conflicts in this world today are as a result of the nature of relationships between countries you have those that have and those who do not have and we have to start looking for a more equitable society, economic equity, again this is part of what the sustainable development goals has as an objective”.
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