Buhari seeks return of stolen assets from abroad, says Abacha alone stole $5bn

In a letter, President Muhammadu Buhari called for the repatriation of assets that had been transferred out of the nation and hidden abroad.

The President stated in an article in the Financial Times of London that Sani Abacha, a former military leader, is thought to have stolen $5 billion from Nigeria.
The President, who questioned the justification for the Western nation’s decision to keep the money, claimed that Africa needs the money to build its infrastructure.

The President remarked that 125 years after being pillaged by British troops, Nigerians were ecstatic to learn that 72 artefacts, collectively known as the Benin Bronzes, kept by the Horniman Museum in London, would be returning home.

He, however, noted also that the clamour for repatriation of looted treasures is becoming irresistible, adding that “ billions are still stashed away in Western bank accounts”

“There was once a similar clamour for the return of Africa’s stolen assets, and I see both as part of the same struggle to bring back to Nigeria what is rightfully ours.

“Siphoned from the continent by corrupt former leaders, countless billions remain stashed in western bank accounts.

“Although Nigeria has arguably been the most successful among African nations in securing the return of stolen money, it has recovered only a fraction of what remains in the west.

“Earlier this year, Nigeria was forced to take legal action against the UK National Crime Agency, after repeated delays to the return of money taken out of the country in the 1990s by former dictator General Sani Abacha.

“However, the court case reveals the scale of the challenge before us. Abacha is thought to have siphoned off up to $5bn to the west.

“This case concerned just £150mn”

He noted that given the levels of corruption across Africa, there will be a concern as to whether funds returned will be used appropriately, adding that “But we should not forget that it was through western jurisdictions that the money was laundered in the first place”

He said not “trusting Africans to spend their own money properly echoes the argument that we can’t be trusted to look after our cultural heritage”

“In the case of both looted cultural heritage and stolen assets, western museums and authorities largely seem to agree that the loot should, in principle, be handed back.

“However, the technicalities of repatriation leave plenty of room for maintaining the status quo.

“Museums say that treasures should be returned if it can be proved that they were looted. Of course, they argue, it is different if artefacts were acquired through purchases and other legitimate means.

“But it is the same museums that are responsible for assessing the provenance of artefacts.

“They have a vested interest in keeping them, encouraging a lackadaisical approach and murky criteria”

President Buhari revealed that in 2025, a new museum will open to showcase the treasures of the Kingdom of Benin.

The Museum which was designed by Ghanaian-British architect David Adjaye, the Edo Museum of West African Art will sit in Benin City, the former capital of the Edo kingdom.

He, however, reminded us that we may struggle to fill the museum without the return of more bronzes held in the west.

On the Abacha loots, President Buhari recalled how in 2017, Switzerland returned $321mn to Nigeria’s Social Investment Programme to fund the national social safety net.

“With stolen assets, the precise means by which institutions return such funds — whether they deliver them to the state, a government, an ad hoc fund or some other body — elicit endless discussion rather than action.

“We know corruption persists across Africa, as it does across the world. But we cannot afford to wait for unspecified “progress” to be achieved before this money is released.” he said