Human rights activist and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN Femi Falana, has claimed that in a 2020 report, the former Auditor General of the Federation disclosed that $4 billion from Nigerian reserves is missing and that $3.5 billion from an IMF loan was stolen. He added that Mr. Cardoso, the governor of the central bank, had admitted that $2.4 billion of the bank’s purported $7 billion in debt was unjustified.
He stated further that the Supreme Court’s in a economic judgment had directed the Nigerian government to collect $62 billion outstanding royalties from six international oil companies. He urged the government to demonstrate courage and political will in enforcing the judgment and collecting the funds.
He said in an interview with Channels TV, ”The report of the auditor general of the federation submitted to the National assembly in 2020 and on which no action was taken. The Former AGF revealed that $4Bn yanked off from Nigerian reserves cannot be located. And he also revealed that $3.5 billion loan taken from the IMF was stolen by yet-to-be-identified individuals. I’m talking of 7.5 billion dollars.
The governor of the Central bank, Mr Cardoso has also disclosed that out of the 7 billion dollars alleged indebtedness of the bank, 2.4 billion dollars cannot be justified. I’m also surprised that my colleagues are not interested in the judgment of the Supreme Court on the economy. The Supreme Court ruled and ordered the government of Nigeria to collect outstanding royalties from the oil majors. But the government has not enforced that judgment of collecting 62 billion dollars from six international oil companies. I hope the government will have the courage and political will to collect those funds.”
