Switzerland to return $321 in stolen Abacha loot to Nigeria

Nigeria and Switzerland have agreed a deal for the latter to return more than $300 million of funds confiscated from former Nigerian military ruler Sani Abacha.

Abacha - who led Nigeria between 1993 and his death 1998 - is suspected to have looted up to $5 billion of public funds during his reign. He was investigated for corruption during his lifetime and some of his assets have been frozen posthumously. Abacha’s son, Abba Abacha, was charged by a Swiss court with money-laundering, fraud and forgery in 2005 and spent more than 500 days in custody.

In 2006, Luxembourg ordered that the funds, held by the younger Abacha, be frozen. The Nigerian government agreed a deal with the Abacha family in 2014 to reclaim the late ruler’s assets in return for dropping a complaint against the younger Abacha.

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari was elected largely on an anti-corruption ticket and has pledged to reclaim billions of dollars of public funds lost to corruption, which has long plagued the West African nation. Nigeria is ranked 136th out of 168 countries in Transparency International’s 2015 Corruption Perceptions Index and Nigerian information minister Lai Mohammed said in January that 1.34 trillion naira ($6.8 billion) in public funds had been stolen by government ministers and bankersbetween 2006 and 2013.

In a statement issued on Tuesday on behalf of Nigerian Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, the Nigerian Presidency said that Osinbajo had met with the Swiss foreign minister Didier Burkhalter and other Swiss representatives to finalize the return of $321 million. Osinbajo said he would “guarantee that returned assets will be used in the interest of the people of this country.” Switzerland has already returned more than $720 million of the stolen funds and it is believed that Abacha may have storedup to $2.2 billion in European bank accounts.

Newsweek

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Video - Nigerian Chinedu Harrison breaks Guiness World Record for longest distance walked with balancing a football on the head

Nigerian footballer Chinedu Harrison has broken the Guiness World Record for the farthest distance walked with a football on the head, walking a distance of 48.040 kilometers with the ball never leaving his head or touching the ground for a single moment. The previous record was 45.64 kilometers, set by an Indian soldier Naib Singh in 2014. The new record will officially enter the Guiness Book of World Records once it is ratified by the organisation. Chinedu's journey to setting the new record began nearly 46 kilometers outside of Lagos. He walked with the ball on his head through the major Lagos/Ibadan expressway before hitting the major streets of the commercial city with crowds cheering him on. He eventually reached his finish line at the national stadium in Lagos after almost ten hours of trekking.

Africa's richest man Aliko Dangote says Nigeria's economic crisis exaggerated

Africa's richest man, Aliko Dangote, is of the view that Nigeria's economic crisis is exaggerated. He said that many businesses continue to thrive, despite the foreign exchange crisis.

The business mogul argued that the current situation cannot be described as a crisis because while some businesses faced serious challenges, others did not. "It all depends on the business," he said.

Dangote stated his view at the The Economist Forum in Lagos, yesterday, while answering questions on the potentials of the Nigeria economy in the face of the current economic challenge.

He said: "I think people are underrating the economy of Nigeria. They just go and look at foreign exchange because oil has gone down and believe that everything has gone out of the window. That is not correct."

He said that the Dangote Cement, as at January and February, recorded 47 per cent growth. The company, he said, estimated that in the next three months, it will witness 60 per cent growth. "We have seen growth in our sugar business of about 20 per cent" he said.

"If your business model is to import 100 per cent of your component and just be an assembly plant, then definitely you will face challenges because the influx of foreign exchange is not like what it used to be a year and half ago when we used to receive about 3.2 billion dollars on monthly basis and our outflow was around two billion dollars. Today, we are receiving just about a billion dollars.

"In our cement sector, we had that vision and we said let us properly industrialise. By this, we mean that our raw materials are almost 90 percent locally sourced. So we only need foreign exchange to buy spare parts, pay some of our expatriate staff salaries in dollars and a get a little bit of gipson which is not readily available here."

He said that the only option left for businesses in Nigeria was to export. "We now have capacity to export cement worth about 500 million dollars on an annual basis. With that, it means that we are self-sufficient.

"If you look at most of our projects, they are all very transformational projects because we saw this coming. In the last ten years, we said we want to do things in a manner that by 2018, we don't have to go to the Central Bank of Nigeria to ask for foreign exchange. We want to be people who will sale forex to the market."

Daily Trust

Ex-defence chief accused of stealing $20m

A former Nigerian chief of defence has been accused of stealing $20m (£14m) from the air force and buying a mansion.

Retired Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh denies 10 charges of fraud, criminal breach of trust and money laundering.

He was appointed chief of defence two years ago.

The BBC's Martin Patience says ACM Badeh is the latest of several officials accused of stealing billions of dollars from the armed forces.

ACM Badeh is accused of using the funds to buy a mansion in the capital Abuja along with a string of other properties.

More than $1m in cash was also reportedly found at one of his homes.

Our correspondent said he was appointed when the military was coming under sustained criticism over its fight against Boko Haram militants.

Under former President Goodluck Jonathan, front-line troops complained that they were ill-equipped to fight the militants and discipline in the army was breaking down as soldiers refused to carry out orders.

An investigation has alleged that a total of $2bn (£1.3bn) meant to buy arms to fight Boko Haram had gone missing.

The former national security adviser, Sambo Dasuki, was charged in December in connection with the case involving $68m that is alleged to be missing. He was accused of awarding phantom contracts to buy helicopters, fighter jets and ammunition, which he denied.

Twelve other senior Nigerian army officers were handed over to the anti-corruption agency in February for their alleged involvement in the arms scandal.

Muhammadu Buhari won elections a year ago on promises to tackle both Boko Haram and corruption.


BBC