The Niger Delta Congress have rejected the move by the federal government to use the recovered £4.2m loot from the British government to fund some federal projects stating that the loot should be returned to the source.
The £4.2m is some of the recovered loot which was stolen from Delta State Government by the former Governor of Delta State, James Ibori.
In a statement released to the media, the Acting spokesman of the group, Adokiye Oyagiri, stated that the projects the Nigerian government planned on using the recovered loot have no bearing on the people of Delta State where the money was stolen.
In clear terms, NDC rejected this plan and called on the ‘British Government to refrain from returning the recovered funds to the Nigerian government until a Memorandum of Understanding that will tie the funds to infrastructural projects in Delta State — to benefit Delta people — is signed with the Delta State government.’
The statement reads;
“The Niger Delta Congress is aware of and appreciates plans by the British Government to return £4.2 million stolen from Delta State and stashed in its banks to the Nigerian Government, following the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with the Nigerian Government.
The NDC is however disheartened by the recent plans made by the Nigerian government to use the recovered funds to bankroll projects such as the Second Niger Bridge, Abuja-Kano highway, and the Lagos-Ibadan highway which have no bearing on the welfare of the people of Delta State.
We find this decision to divert funds meant for the people of Delta State not just similar to the initial theft of the funds from Delta State, and the ongoing theft of the natural resources of our people but also proof of the total contempt the Nigerian federation has for the people of the Niger Delta.
The Nigerian government has no moral justification to expend funds belonging to the people of Delta State on developmental projects in states that contributed nothing to the generation of those funds.
We believe the people of Delta State should have the right of first refusal on how the returned funds should be expended, and not the federal government taking unilateral decisions regarding said funds.
The Niger Delta Congress rejects this plan and its supporters completely and calls on the British Government to refrain from returning the recovered funds to the Nigerian government until a Memorandum of Understanding that will tie the funds to infrastructural projects in Delta State — to benefit Delta people — is signed with the Delta State government.
The NDC is also calling on all well-meaning individuals in the Niger Delta to rise against this injustice before it reaches other parts of the Niger Delta. A stitch in time saves nine.”
Countering the position of the Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, who said that the recovered loot will be channelled to federal projects, the Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana, said that the loot should be returned to Delta State where it was stolen from.
Appearing on Channels Television Programme and monitored by TheCable, he said;
“Having acknowledged the role of the federal government, the fund has to return to the source. Factually, between 1999 and 2003, the Delta state government like other state governments in Nigeria received its statutory allocation every month and paid the same into the account of the government. From that account, some amount was alleged to have been diverted and taken to the United Kingdom.
“As the honourable attorney-general had said, the money is over £100 million. What has been released now is the first tranche of £4.2 million. Since the money left the coffers of the Delta state government, it has to be returned once this fund is recovered.
“The federal government has no locus standi concerning how the money is spent. That is left for the people of Delta state to monitor the government of that state to ensure that the fund is not related.
“The memorandum of understanding referred to by the attorney-general signed in London, smacks of colonialism. Britain cannot decide on how recovered loot should be spent.
“What I expect the attorney-general or the federal government — in the circumstance — is to collaborate with the Delta state government to ensure that the banks that housed the looted wealth of Delta state or the banks involved are made to pay colossal damages and interests for denying the people of Delta state the opportunity to use the money for development.”
