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By Henry Uche, Lagos
Saddened by the sad current economic realities in the country, the Human & Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA Resource Centre) has published a litany of high-profile unresolved corruption cases in Nigeria, from 1999 to December 2022.
The Publication titled: “Impunity Galore: A Chronicle of Some Unresolved High Profile Corruption Cases In Nigeria” was targeted at not only exposing such cases to the world but also alerting Nigerians including civil society organizations, the Judiciary, the Media to be aware for necessary actions to bring such corrupt persons to book.
At a press brief in Lagos, the Chairman of the Group, Olanrewaju Suraju, said citizens and the media in particular must rise and evoke statutory provisions and hold corrupt persons to account. He noted that these corruption cases are responsible for the economic retardation which had translated to untold hardship Nigerians had suffered over the years.
“As an organisation, among other things we have done in recent times, especially in terms of research, we reflected on the numerous cases of corruption and probes that have not made it to the court and have remained unconcluded to date.
“We investigated the series of cases involved as much as we can and today, we are presenting to you the outcome of that research. Let me mention that this topic is so coined because the events of recent years have shown that this impunity has remained unstoppable. In many of the cases, it is either investigation was not completed, committee reports not made public, white-paper not released or there is clear sabotage within and or outside the government,”
HEDA boss who listed the unresolved corruption cases said the total amount involved in all the cases reported was N1,623,584,000,000 (One trillion, six hundred and twenty-three billion, five hundred and eighty-four million Naira) and another $825,679,500,000 (eight hundred and twenty-five billion, six hundred and seventy-nine million, five hundred thousand US Dollars).
Below is a snapshot of some of the cases documented in the report.
• Allegations of financial impropriety against SGF Babachir Lawal which involves $8,000,000
• Allegations of financial impropriety against DG NIA, Ayo Oke which involves $43,000,000
• $2 billion arms deal or Dasukigate which involves $2,000,000,000
• Probe of Halliburton Bribery Scandal which involves $180,000,000,000
• Investigation into a loan to the Aviation Industry which involves $40,000,000
• NNPC Subsidy payment without recourse to National Assembly which involves $216,000,000,000
• Probe of alleged missing funds from NNPC which involves $20,000,000,000
• Probe into Arms and Private Jets Scandal which involves- $15,000,000
• Probe into fuel subsidy scam which involves $3,500,000,000
• Alleged diversion of NLNG Dividends which involves $378,000,000,000
• Alleged sale of some FG prime properties in the USA which involves $27,000,000
• Probe of financial fraud committed by officials of the Min. of Foreign Affairs in Tel-Aviv, Israel which involves $1,500,000
• Probe of spending on power sector which involves $16,000,000,000
• Investigation into China Loan which involves $500,000,000
• Probe into NIMASA security contact which involves $195,000,000
• Probe into the collapse of Delta Steel Company built which involves $1,890,000,000
• Failure to refund money withdrawn from Nigeria’s foreign reserves by the CBN in 2006 which involves $7,000,000,000
• Abandoned state of the contract awarded for CCTV Camera in Abuja which involves $460,000,000
Others in Naira include:
• Sagem National Identity Card Fraud which involves 34,000,000,000
•Intervention Fund for Aviation Infrastructure which involves 19,500,000,000
• Financial Impropriety against Adebayo Shomefun led management of NSITF which involves 3,400,000,000
• Probe of PTDF which involves 20,000,000,000
• Pondei NDDC Scandal which involves 81,000,000,000
• NDDC Palliative Fund Mismanagement which involves 6,200,000,000
• Probe of alleged diversion by NSITF Management which involves 61,100,000,000
• Probe of alleged revenue leakage in the import and export chain which involves 30,000,000,000
• Federal Govt. Privatized Companies between 2012-2022 which involves 1,800,000,000
• Probe of financial fraud committed of officials of Min. of Foreign Affairs in Israel which involves 848,000,000.00
• Whereabouts of recovered loot from Tafa Balogun which involves 20,000,000,000.00
• Alisson Madueke expenditure on private jets which involves 10,000,000,000.00
• Investigation into Insurance premium paid by Nigcomsat which involves 181,000,000.00
• Investigtigation into BMW Bullet Proof Car Scandal which involves 255,000,000.00
• Non-Remittance by PPPRA which involves 1,300,000,000,000.00
• Probe into fraud in NSITF which involves 2,300,000,000.00
• National Pension Commission withdrawal funds by PenCom from CBN account which involves 33,000,000,000.00
Suraju added that the document was a collection of corruption cases being investigated by the EFCC, ICPC, Senate and House Committees of the Nigerian law-making body- The National assembly, centred between 1999 and December 2022.
According to him, Chapter One highlighted the historical journey of Nigeria since Independence in 1960, the crisscrossing of a different epoch of governments whether military or civil rule till 2022.
“In chapter one, readers will find an economical characterisation of the ruling class, and how members of the ruling class have contributed to 60 years of underdevelopment of the Nigerian state. The chapter lays emphasis on the interminable rhetoric of the ruling class that is certainly not matched with realities.
“Interestingly the chapter also captures a plethora of agencies and committees created by the same ruling class to address the menace of corruption which has grown unabated over the years. However, there are recommendations offered to political actors in this chapter with a view to addressing the menace of corruption”
The anti-corruption crusader affirmed that Chapter Two captured a broad-spectrum description of corruption from various perspectives of organisations like the World Bank and establishes a nexus with one of HEDA Resource Centre’s publications which, was released earlier in 2019.
“There is a short historical trace of the establishment of the two major anti-corruption agencies – EFCC and ICPC. The chapter attempts to stress the paradox of a nation endowed with so much but has the majority of its citizens living in poverty. The chapter again concluded with recommendations to help foster policy discussion and formation.
“The Chapter underscores the constitutional provisions for governments both at the National and sub-National to address corruption, and it concluded on the challenges of fighting corruption”
The GROUP stressed that Chapter Four summarises a catalogue of unresolved alleged corruption cases by the executive NS legislative arms of government in Nigeria since 1999 till date, noting that it also attempted to give a sense of the status of these alleged corruption cases.
“Chapter Five summarises the key findings of this study, conclusion and key recommendations to the Executive, Legislature, Judiciary, Civil Society Organisations, and the media.
He added that the cases listed in the chronicle were not exhaustive and the selection had not been discriminated in any manner.
“We have only tried as much as possible to report such high profile cases as much as we could find stories and report on. So, even if we missed some, perhaps we may be able to update them in the near future. However, we have done our best to cover the most ground,” he empathised.
