13 May ‘Treat oil theft as blood diamonds’
Buhari says 150,000 barrels of Nigeria’s oil stolen daily
President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday, May 12th insisted British Premier David Cameron had nothing to apologise for over his comments caught on video this week, describing Nigeria as being “fantastically corrupt.” “I think he’s being honest about it…” he told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour. “I don’t think you can fault him.”
Buhari had earlier told Amanpour that billions of dollars designated to fight the country’s major terrorist group, Boko Haram, were shared among officials who gathered, “as if they were going to have lunch and dinner and put the money into their accounts.”
Buhari said at the summit that his country had suffered from oil theft on an “industrial scale,” with the proceeds being “laundered through world financial centers by transnational organized criminals.”
He estimated around 150,000 barrels of oil were being stolen per day.
The Nigerian President called on the international community to designate oil theft as an international crime similar to the trade in “blood diamonds.”
The theft “constitutes an imminent and credible threat to the economy and stability of oil-producing countries like Nigeria,” he added.
President Buhari also said he was more concerned with fighting corruption than talking about it. He said his administration was making inroads with clearing a backlog of “ghost workers” who are claiming salaries fraudulently and by arresting those who embezzled government funds during the previous administration.
At the opening of the anti-corruption summit today, Buhari said: “When it comes to tackling corruption, the international community has looked the other way for too long.
“Nigeria is calling on this summit to trace and facilitate the recovery of stolen funds and assets hidden in secret accounts,” he added.
credit: TheGuardian.ng
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