There can be no safe haven for loot abroad, Osinbajo tells U.S. delegation

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo said Monday that the present administration had contacted the United States government to increase its assistance in ensuring that corrupt officials did not find a safe haven abroad for their loot.

According to a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Laolu Akande, Osinbajo disclosed this during the visit of a US Congressional delegation to the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

“We have reached out to the US government with respect with helping with repatriation of proceeds of crime and proceeds of corruption”, he was quoted as saying.

Osinbajo was reported to have also told the delegation that the present administration regarded corruption as an existential threat that must be dealt with at its root.

Read also: Boko Haram, trade on the agenda as U.S. Congressional delegation visits Nigeria

He stated that, “We have worked quite closely with the US government on repatriation of funds, we have seen some results.

“We think that this is very important because what tends to happen with corrupt public officials is that if they are able to find a safe haven for the proceeds of their criminality, not only are they encouraged as individuals but there is the general feeling that if I am able to get the proceeds out of the country, I might just get away with it.

“This is one of the reasons why we have taken several actions to ensure that we are able to deal with it because some of the major dislocations in the economy are on account of the problems that we have seen with corruption.

“The Buhari presidency’s strategy which is one of the most effective ways of fighting corruption is ensuring that these proceeds are unsafe and for people to know that they would be found out and they would be punished for it and we would seize whatever profit they had gain.’’

 

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