Buhari: Why Looters Cannot Get Back Recovered Assets After I Leave Office 

President Muhammadu Buhari has said looted assets recovered by his administration cannot be returned to looters after he leaves office. 

This, Buhari said, was because his administration has been putting up such assets for sale and putting the proceeds in the Treasury Single Account  (TSA) to prevent them from being returned to criminals after his tenure. 

The president revealed this on Saturday while meeting the Nigerian community in London ahead of his participation in the inaugural UK-Africa Investment Summit holding on January 20, 2020 in the United Kingdom.

Buhari described the havoc done by corruption to the image and economy of the country as “terrible”.

The president also spoke on Nigeria’s decision to temporarily shut down its borders, saying the move was not meant to punish the country’s neighbours.

Buhari’s senior special adviser on media and publicity, Femi Adesina, said in a statement that the president explained that the period of closure will be used for stock-taking on threats to the nation’s security and economy.

According to Adesina, the president noted that Nigerian farmers have been celebrating the closure because it had drastically reduced smuggling of agricultural produce as well as arms and ammunition.

He said Buhari attributed the country’s virtual food security position to the “very good last three rainy seasons;” the federal government’s reduction in the price of fertilizers by 50% and the presidential directive to the Central Bank of Nigeria not to give foreign exchange for food imports thereby saving the nations billions of naira.

The statement said te president commended Nigerians in the Diaspora for their huge home remittances (more than $25 billion in 2018) while aso lauding their individual performances in their various fields of expertise.

On security, he said “it is common sense that you can only run the country if it is secured,” adding that the country “has not done badly in the North East.”

THE WHISTLER had earlier reported that Buhari during the meeting met British-Nigerian world heavyweight champion, Anthony Joshua, who presented the president with his recently recovered IBF, WBO and WBA titles.

The president congratulated Joshua for putting Nigeria “on the world map again like Hogan Bassey.”        

The meeting was coordinated by the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM), Hon. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, who described President Buhari as “diaspora-friendly.” 

It witnessed attendance by Governor Inuwa Yahaya of Gombe State, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama; and his Trade and Investment counterpart, Adeniyi Adebayo as well as Nigeria’s High Commissioner to the UK, Justice Adesola Oguntade, among other dignitaries.