What Happened To Abacha Loot?

Abacha

The Swiss Ambassador to Nigeria was lately in the news; he announced that his country has so far returned to Nigeria 700 million dollars allegedly lodged away in Swiss Banks by the Abachas. Predictably, Nigerians didn’t seem excited by such significant recovery of looted funds. Why are Nigerians cold towards this revelation?

The simple reason is that Nigerians are tired of the hypocrisy that surrounds the anti-corruption crusade in the country. It is not surprising therefore, why the announcement by the Swiss Ambassador fell like water off a duck’s back. Corruption is indefensible and it must be condemned always. It destroys societies; it undermines the development of countries.

In fact, the former Minister of Education and one time Director General of the Due Process Office, Dr. Obi Ezekwesili recently warned that no country could achieve transformation when corruption dominates public life.

Why then is the public attitude to the recovery of Abacha loot less than enthusiastic? The inability of former Obasanjo administration to account for how the recovered Abacha loot was used for the public good has killed the zeal of Nigerians about the issue.

Nobody has come out officially to tell Nigerians convincingly how and where the recovered funds from Abacha were channeled into the improvement of social services. It is not enough to recover looted funds and then fail to tell the public how the money was used for the larger benefits of the public. In fact, the LEADERSHIP newspaper once wrote an editorial, asking where the Abacha loot went to. Surprisingly, the editorial was silently ignored officially. 

Accountability in the use of recovered funds is as important as fighting corruption. The Obasanjo administration had a moral duty to explain how the Abacha loot was used but, until he completed his eight-year tenure in office, the former President left behind more questions than answers about the fate of the recovered Abacha loot. You can imagine what 700 million dollars could have done to improve social services if properly and honestly used. 

Fighting corruption requires international cooperation. Such cooperation may however be weakened if leaders of countries like Nigeria refuse to account for looted funds returned to them by foreign governments. The official silence over the fate of the Abacha loot is incomprehensible. Is Nigeria truly serious about fighting corruption when people in government refuse to explain to the citizens how they used recovered looted funds?

When he was elected in 1999, former President Obasanjo blamed all the evils of Nigeria, including corruption, on the late General Abacha administration and promised to recover all the looted funds by the military ruler. “Nigeria will rise again” was the dominant message of the Obasanjo administration when it declared its so-called war against corruption. He branded General Abacha as the symbol of corruption and perceived his own administration as a parade of saints.

One reality about hypocrisy is that it has a short life span. You cannot deceive the people for too long. If the late General Abacha was responsible for Nigeria’s decline because of corruption, why has the evil persisted on larger scale today many years after Abacha’s death? Corruption continues to grow like weed in Nigeria, despite the fact that Abacha is no more in office. Why did Nigeria rank among the most corrupt countries of the world under the former Obasanjo administration?

The reluctance or inability to explain how the Abacha loot was used for the public good is itself a form of corruption. Public officials now steal in billions and trillions with increasing audacity. Former President Obasanjo withdrew corruption charges against a former Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Defence, Mr. Joseph Makanjuola without any valid justification and despite the public outrage over that decision. Such hypocrisy is beyond comprehension.

In 2003, the former Obasanjo administration removed then Auditor General of the Federation, Mr. Vincent Azzi from office for daring to expose lack of transparency in the expenditure of public funds by the government. The poor senior civil servant was sacrificed on the grounds that he breached government regulations by going public with his report. That incident highlighted the level of insincerity about fighting corruption in Nigeria.

Despite the corruption attributed to his government, the late Abacha had demonstrated more transparency in the management of petroleum subsidy withdrawal proceeds. The establishment of the Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF) under the leadership of General Muhammadu Buhari had produced remarkable positive results.

The successful management of the proceeds of subsidy withdrawal by the Abacha administration and for the first time brought credibility to the policy. With only N60 billion throughout its existence, the PTF had achieved impressive results that disarmed even the most stubborn critics. General Abacha increased fuel price to only 21 Naira while Obasanjo raised it to 75 Naira per litre.

Yet ironically, Abacha achieved better results in the provision of social services and the improvement of public infrastructure. Under Obasanjo, the proceeds of subsidy withdrawal were going to private pockets of a few ‘connected’ individuals while the ordinary people groaned under the weight of inflation and poverty.

With the recent revelations about the large-scale corruption in the country, it is high time we apologized to Abacha and stopped vilifying his memory when worse thieves are wrecking the country and diverting billions of subsidy proceeds with impunity.

—Mohammed is an advocate for transparency and good governance.

I could not agree with you more, Mohammed.