A scandal from the grave

Sir: The Abacha loot readily reminds increasingly poor Nigerians of their past, but especially of the relentless avarice of those who have led them at different times. 

If foreigners are to blame for the priceless cultural artifacts taken to Europe during the colonial era, Nigerians themselves are to blame for the dizzying amount of public funds stolen from the country and stashed away in other countries. Indeed, in that case, the enemy has been very much within.
 
After more than two decades, France has returned about $150 million stolen by the late dictator, Sani Abacha to Nigeria. Catherine Colonna, France Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, disclosed this in Abuja when she visited President Bola Tinubu.

It is not astounding thatsome of the loot was in France too? Previous ones were discovered in Switzerland, the UK, Jersey, Liechtenstein, and a handful of other countries. Where else did the late dictator from Kano State stash away money he stole from Nigeria?

It is difficult to pinpoint exactly at what point Nigeria started to drift south. But there is something resembling a consensus that a country that showed prodigious promise at independence in 1960 started to retrogress when the military began to intervene in government. The coup of 1966 was particularly jarring because it opened the floodgates of military intervention in Nigeria, casting the country backwards, and driving its institutions to distraction.

But, somehow, in a country that saw iron-fisted despots like Ibrahim Babangida and Muhammadu Buhari enjoy unconstitutional incursions into government, Abacha takes the cake. The outrageous amounts of money that he stole and stashed away in Nigerian banks continue to be recovered and will continue to be recovered because the truth is that no one is really sure how much he put away and where he put them away.

Some of those who helped Abacha steal and stash away money have gone on to occupy high-profile offices in the country since his  providential demise in 1998. Corruption in Nigeria has a long and painful history.  The Abacha loot saga has continued to shame generations of Nigerians. The earlier Nigeria recovers all of it and plugs all the holes that enable the wanton stealing of public funds, the earlier the country will begin to recover from years of theft and plunder.

Until then, the fact that many Nigerians believe that the Abacha loot returned to the country is destined only for another round of stealing speaks to a country where corruption is a virtue.
Kene Obiezu [email protected]