Nigeria’s vice president Yemi Osinbajo has revealed that around $15 billion – equal to about half the country’s foreign currency reserves – was stolen from his country’s public purse under the previous government through fraudulent arms procurement deals.
The West African nation is going through its worst economic crisis in decades due to the drop in global crude oil prices, and ministers say these problems have been made worse by the impact of fraud under previous administrations.
The country’s President Muhammadu Buhari won last year’s election on, among others, a pledge to crackdown on corruption. He said the theft of “mind boggling” sums of oil money meant state coffers were virtually empty in Africa’s biggest economy when he took office last May.
In his administration, corruption charges have been levelled against former military chiefs and companies accused of involvement in an alleged arms procurement fraud during the tenure of Buhari’s predecessor Goodluck Jonathan. All have however pleaded not guilty.
Osinbajo said the total sum lost to corruption related to the provision of security equipment to the military amounted to about $15 billion.
Endemic corruption over decades has enriched a small elite but left many Nigerians mired in poverty despite the country’s oil wealth. Osinbajo’s claims are the latest in a string of allegations by members of Buhari’s administration.
