President Muhammadu Buhari, yesterday, said that his administration has identified banks, financial institutions and countries in which payments for stolen Nigerian crude oil have been deposited.
Speaking, yesterday, at an audience with visiting United States Congressmen, President 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. Some monies were paid to individual accounts. We are identifying the financial institutions and countries that are involved. I have been assured that when we get all our documents together, the United States and other countries will treat our case with sympathy,” a statement signed by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr Femi Adesina, quoted Buhari to have told the Congressmen led by Rep. Darrel Issah:
According to the president, his Administration will 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.
Issah assured the president that the United States will support Nigeria against Boko Haram. “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.
President Buhari had last week said in an interview on the Nigerian Television Authority, NTA’s, ‘Good Morning Nigeria,’ programme, that the government was already working with some individuals that are helping it to track the destination of stolen crude oil and the accounts the proceeds were paid into.
