Buhari looks to Obama’s Aid partner to Recover $150 Billion in Nigeria Loot
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari is asking President Barack Obama to help to locate and return $150 billion believed to have been stolen by corrupt officials.
Buhari, who’s meeting Obama during a visit to the U.S. capital, made the call in an opinion article published Monday in the Washington Post.
“The fact that I now seek Obama’s assistance in locating and returning $150 billion in funds stolen in the past decade and held in foreign bank accounts on behalf of former, corrupt officials is a testament to how badly Nigeria has been run,” he wrote. “This way of conducting our affairs cannot continue.”
Buhari, who took office on May 29 after defeating Goodluck Jonathan in March elections, pledged during his campaign to clamp down on graft, including in the oil industry that provides Africa’s biggest economy with about two-thirds of government revenue and 90 percent of export earnings.
