The government of Jersey Island said it would not release $300 million loot of the late Head of State, General Sani Abacha, stashed away in its country except Nigeria meets its conditions.
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Speaking on behalf of the Island at a side meeting with the Nigerian delegation, led by acting chairman of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Ibrahim Magu, at the ongoing 7th Session of Conference of State Parties to the United Nations Convention Against Corruption holding in Vienna, Austria, the country’s Minister and Attorney-General Robert J. MacRae, said Jersey would not release Abacha’s loot to Nigeria if a third party representation was brought into the picture.
A statement released by Head of Media and Publicity of the EFCC Wilson Uwujaren brought to the fore the discussion between the officials of both countries.
It reads: “The Jersey Attorney General expressly stated that negotiations in respect of repatriation of the USD300 million being part of the Abacha involving Jersy, Nigeria and the United States, “must be government to government cooperation”.
“The EFCC was accompanied to the meeting by four members of the Nigeria delegation.”
Meanwhile, a survey conducted by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, UNODC, indicated that the EFCC is the most effective government agency in the country.
The report of the survey was published in the UNODC’s July 2017 publication, and titled, “Corruption in Nigeria. Bribery: Public Experience and Response”. It was based on data collected in a survey of 33,067 households on corruption conducted in all 36 states and FCT.
The anti-graft agency was ranked among sister anti-graft and law enforcement agencies including the Nigeria Police, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, the Code of Conduct Bureau, the Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit, the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, the Public Complaint Commission, Federal High Court, Federal Ministry of Justice, Bureau of Public Procurement, Special Control Unit Against Money Laundering and Technical Unit on Government and Anti-corruption Reform.
“The EFCC receives the highest perception of effectiveness rating at 78.3 per cent,” the report stated, an indication that more than 25,000 of the households surveyed believed that the EFCC was effective in the discharge of its mandate.
The report, formed part of the “Support to Anti-Corruption in Nigeria Project”, sponsored by the European Union (EU), and the UNODC, in partnership with stakeholders of the project.
