
Olanrewaju Suraju,the Chairman HEDA Resource Centre,has said that 10 former governors in Nigeria were traced with 51million pounds in 10 years.
He also said 216 properties were owned by 13 Nigerian law enforcement agents in Dubai
Suraju,who spoke at a media roundtable organised by HEDA Resource Centre in collaboration with the MacArthur Foundation in Lagos,said Nigeria is leading other countries in recovering stolen funds and also is leading in illicit stolen funds outside the country.
He added:“That gives us the need that we must engage with the process, that is; working with the government at home and abroad to ensure that we ensure these funds are traced and repatriated back home and to ensure there is transparency”
Presenting a research titled: ‘Fixing Nigeria’s Illicit Financial Flows: A Critical Review of UK and UAE Policies, Laws and Practices in Financial and Professional Institutions’ at the round table,Dr.. Gbenga Oduntan, an Associate Professor of International Commercial Law at Kent University, said United Kingdom (UK) and the United Arab Emirate (UAE) have been identified as two countries which represented a particular danger for the Nigeria economy in terms of the way the wealth of Nigeria through illicit financial flow (IFF) flows into these countries.
He maintained that progress can be made only when the two countries come together to try and fashion out ways to stop politically exposed persons (PEPs) hiding funds in the property markets in London and Dubai.
“Those two cities represent a particular danger to the Nigeria economy and until the two countries find ways in making sure that our own PEPs do not find the opportunity to hide funds in the property markets of those countries we will continue to be in danger.
“The UAE and the UK especially with respect to Nigeria unfortunately are examples of IFF receiver states. Dubai and London feature prominently in the macabre story of international IFF damage. Both capitals act like opportunistic lightning rods tapping and conducting economic life away from the satellite victim state like Nigeria to themselves as metropoles of financial and political power.
“These two states do not however even represent the most of the damage occurring to Nigeria via IFF. There are other major countries that do similar and sometimes worse damage. The lessons and solutions developed from this study can be applied to many other satellite-metropole relationships of exploitation that Nigeria finds itself embedded in across the globe.
He said in five years, a trilateral commission should be set up to address the issue and that the UK and the UAE will also benefit from this.
“If you are ready to reduce IFF from Africa and Nigeria, less Nigerians will be walking across the desert trying to get to a place where they can at least get a decent way of existing. It is not an easy thing for people to try to escape from their own countries; they do these things in desperation. These countries have something to gain in assisting Nigeria by stopping illicit financial flows,” he added
Oduntan added that the average UK civil servant and teacher can no longer live in London, that they are priced out by people who just come to store their money by buying properties in London.