'Swiss Release of Abacha Loot, Challenge to UK, FG'
From Omon-Julius Onabu in Benin-City
Switzerland Government's decision to release to Nigeria, N66.4 billion stolen and stashed away by the country's late military ruler, General Sani Abacha, has been hailed as a positive development in the current campaign for international perspective to the fight against corruption and despotic governance.
The action also poses a great moral challenge for the government and people of Britain as well as the Obasanjo administration, the President of the African Network for Environmental and Economic Justice (ANEEJ), Rev. David Ugolor, said in a chat with newsmen in Benin-City yesterday.
He called on the the National Assembly to immediately call a meeting of stakeholders and civil society to decide where and how the returned money would be appropriated for the benefit of the generality of the Nigerian people as well as monitor the entire process.
According to Ugolor, who is also the national co-coordinator of Publish-What-You-Pay Campaign Nigeria (PWYP), a coalition of over 50 NGO's, Britain's continued legalistic and bureaucratic sermoning on the delayed return of stolen money to Nigeria would now lose fervour, but become stale in the international circle.
He observed that the commendable example of the Swiss Government should naturally trigger a positive bandwagon effect and thus open new vistas in transparency and accountability in government particularly in Third World nations, where corrupt leaders get away with plundering and looting due to the connivance of the so-called advanced nations.
In all these, the way President Olusegun Obasanjo manages the money being returned by Switzerland would greatly determine his success, in terms of his government's rating by the Nigerian people.
Said Ugolor, "ANEEJ, as one of the leading NGO's that has moved round the world and consistently insisted on transparency and justice in governance and the use of funds from oil and other extractive industries, we are interested in monitoring how the returned loot will be used.
"We are particularly happy about the Swiss Government's decision to participate in monitoring of the funds use in Nigeria. ANEEJ will gladly partner with the Swiss Government in monitoring the appropriation of the released funds in the spirit of anti-corruption.
"The President must realise that the spirit of Abacha will haunt him and the people of Nigeria would bring him to justice if by 2007 he failed to give an acceptable account to the people on how the fund was used.
"So, the onus is right now on President Obasanjo not to open a framework that would open up a space for the people to decide in this matter. It should not be left to the ministry of finance, because this is a special money, and without prejudice to the constitution, it should benefit all Nigerians specifically.
"I sincerely hope the British High Commissioner in Nigeria, Mr Richard Gozney, would emulate the Swiss example, instead of hiding under the canopy of legality and bureaucracy.
"To continue retaining Nigerian stolen money hidden in British banks is a scar in the moral credibility of the British Government and people to preach the gospel of good governance and anti-corruption."
|
