Publishing looters’ names will jeopardise investigation –Osinbajo

Olalekan Adetayo, Abuja

Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo on Monday said the Federal Government refrained from publishing names of those it recovered looted funds from in order not to jeopardise further investigations.

According to a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mr. Laolu Akande, the Vice-President spoke during a meeting he had at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, with a delegation of the European Union, led by the EU Ambassador in Nigeria, Mr. Michel Arrion.

On the list published by the Federal Government on Saturday, the administration said it had recovered a total of N115.7bn cash, while assets, worth over N1.9tn, had been frozen in one year.

In a statement by the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the government said the recovery was made between May 29, 2015 and May 25, 2016.

Many individuals and groups had criticised the government for not publishing the names of those the funds were recovered from.

But Osinbajo said, “We have released the list of recovered loot. We know people are asking for the names, but releasing the names may jeopardise ongoing investigations.”

On the renewed vandalism of infrastructure in the Niger Delta, Osinbajo told his guests that the Federal Government was engaging leaders and people of the region in discussions.

He said besides reaching out to the people in the area, government was also beefing up security in the region.

“The focus of the (Muhammadu) Buhari Presidency is to ensure that the man on the street in the Niger Delta receives the benefits from all that is available there.

“We are talking, we are ensuring that we minimise losses and we are stepping up security. We are also engaging the international oil companies to see what options exist,” Osinbajo said.

On economic issues, the Vice-President restated government’s commitment to drive its diversification policy.

He encouraged investors from European countries to take advantages of the situation, especially in the agro-allied processing industry.

He also restated the determination of the administration to ensure that the ease of doing business ranking in Nigeria would go up by at least 20 steps in the World Bank rating.

To this end, he said the President had approved the composition of a Presidential Commission on the matter under the VP’s chairmanship.

Arrion said he came to hold consultations with the Vice-President as a follow-up to Buhari’s meeting with EU leaders during his visit to Europe, adding that “Nigeria has a huge market we can invest in. It is also a place we can export from.”

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