SHAGARI,IBB,ABACHA,ATIKU,ODILI,IBORI,DANJUMA,OBJ etc etc etc
• Obama's Nuclear Summit Yields Early Dividends
A report that past Nigerian leaders stole more than $89.5 billion from the national purse over a period of 38 years, from 1970 through 2008, has cast a shadow on efforts by Acting President Goodluck Jonathan to attract fresh foreign investment, which is part of his agenda in Washington.
Jonathan flew to the American capital on Sunday for the global nuclear security summit that began on Monday.
According to the findings of international illicit financial outflow watchdog- Global Financial Integrity (GFI), Nigeria lost more money through illegal outflows than any country in the world during the period.
The top five countries are Nigeria ($89.5 billion) Egypt ($70.5 billion), Algeria ($25.7 billion), Morocco ($25 billion), and South Africa ($24.9 billion).
In total, Africa lost $854 billion in illegal financial outflows.
The report paints a grim picture of the looting of resources and estimated that developing countries are losing as much as $1 trillion every year.
“The amount of money that has been drained out of Africa – hundreds of billions decade after decade – is far in excess of the official development assistance going into African countries,” said GFI Director Raymond Baker. “Staunching this devastating outflow of much-needed capital is essential to achieving economic development and poverty alleviation goals in these countries.
“Sub-Saharan African countries experienced the bulk of illicit financial outflows with the West and Central African region posting the largest outflow numbers.”
The report said illegal financial outflows from the entire region outpaced official development assistance at a ratio of at least two to one.
“This report breaks new ground in the fight to end global poverty with analyses and measurements of illicit financial outflows never before undertaken.
“As long as these countries are losing massive amounts of money to illicit financial outflows, economic development and prosperity will remain elusive.”
Baker recommended transparency in the global financial system as a solution to the problem.
Back on the summit, President Barack Obama’s effort has started reaping early dividends as China has agreed to work with the United States on possible sanctions against Iran and Ukraine’s decision to rid itself of nuclear bomb-making materials.
Obama said the risk of nuclear attack has increased, calling it a “cruel irony” after the end of the Cold War.
He noted in his opening address to the first full day of the summit on Tuesday that the risks of nations going to war with nuclear weapons have decreased.
Nevertheless, he told representatives from 47 countries that, “The risk of a nuclear attack has gone up.”
Obama was speaking of the threat of terrorists getting their hands on nuclear materials.
He had opened the summit on Monday night after two days of meetings with selected Presidents and Prime Ministers of the 47 countries assembled to recharge efforts to keep nuclear materials out of terrorist hands.
China’s incremental move toward U.S. ambitions to sanction Iran and Ukraine’s plans to get rid of highly enriched uranium put some wind in Obama’s sails as he presses global leaders to join him in locking down all nuclear materials within four years.
