The Head of the EU Delegation to Nigeria, Mr Michel Arrion has made it clear that Nigeria’s looted funds are not only stashed away in Europe, but all over the world.
Arrion gave the explanation at a press briefing on Wednesday in Abuja and pledged EU’s support for President Muhammadu Buhari’s efforts to recover Nigeria’s looted funds.
He noted that while there are stolen funds in some European countries, it is a bilateral issue between Nigeria and the concerned European countries but assured that the EU will continue to give advocacy support.
“Nigeria’s stolen funds are not only in Europe; they are everywhere. So we are happy to see that President Muhammadu Buhari went to UAE to discuss the repatriation of stolen wealth. We welcome any form of cooperation with the judiciary, the police cooperation that Nigeria wants to have with EU member-states,” he said.
The EU envoy noted that all countries are fighting corruption, but that the level of commitment differs, but remarked that the level of corruption in Nigeria is so high that it had impacted negatively on the economy and infrastructure.
At the same time, he cautioned against executive interference with the judiciary in the fight against corruption, adding that it is important for the executive to make statement on expeditious trial of corruption cases.
“There have been cases of abandoned corruption trials in the past. So there is nothing wrong with the executive making statement on expeditious trial of corruption cases. But prosecution must be within the ambit of the Rule of Law,” he said.
He said EU is supporting Nigeria’s fight against corruption through a range of programmes, aimed at strengthening the anti-corruption agencies and the criminal justice system.
According to him, the EU’s support is not only to prevent the incidence of corruption, but also to deal with corruption cases when they occur.
Arrion explained that EU is supporting the fight against corruption in Nigeria with a 35 million Euros project being implemented nationwide by the UN Office on Drug and Crime.
He said the EU support to the Justice Sector Reform in Nigeria with the UNODC is currently being implemented in six focal states. He said the projects, which targeted various anti-corruption cases, sought to evolve a coordination mechanism for the implementation of anti-corruption strategies.
-Leadership
