Some highly placed Nigerians allegedly involved in money laundering and other economic crimes are to be arrested and prosecuted under a recent understanding reached between the federal government and the Paris Club of creditors.

Some highly placed Nigerians allegedly involved in money laundering and other economic crimes are to be arrested and prosecuted under a recent understanding reached between the federal government and the Paris Club of creditors.

President Olusegun Obasanjo who dropped the hint in Abuja yesterday, said the measure was among the conditions handed down to Nigeria by the club before it granted $18 billion or 60 per cent debt relief to the country.

The revelation came as a challenge was thrown in Daura, Katsina State, with the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) presidential candidate in the 2003 general elections, Major-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (rtd), asking the government to shed more light on the conditions under which it obtained the 60 per cent debt cancellation.

Speaking on the issue when a delegation from Kwara State led by Gov. Bukola Saraki visited him at State House, Abuja, President Obasanjo said dossiers on the unidentified culprits were shown to him during the process of negotiating debt relief, stating that those involved would be picked up as soon as detailed information on them was made available to the government.

He added that getting the Paris Club to write off $18 billion, out of the $30 billion owed the creditors, did not come easy, and that the creditors were “no fools” by their generosity.

“We must also realise that this debt relief did not at all come easy. After the struggle to get it and the conditions with the World Bank and International Development Agency, we had to struggle to get that because that was one of the conditions listed.

“As for us to get out while the price of oil is high, as they have shown me, some of our highly placed people are still misbehaving by siphoning money out of the country. Of course, as we get more information we will react on those other reports,” President Obasanjo declared.

The president, while noting that the feat was something Nigerians should be proud of, maintained that the creditors expected a corresponding positive affirmation from the government.

His word: “It is a thing we all have to feel proud that we are able to achieve at this time, but those who are granting us debt relief are no fools. They know us and what we are doing and they are convinced that what we are doing is right, and we should do more of what we are doing right.”

Obasanjo said further that the creditors acknowledged Nigeria’s leading role in peace-keeping operations globally, thus making debt relief one of the ways to encourage Nigeria to continue and to even do more.

On the payment terms for the outstanding $12 billion, he confirmed that a meeting of the National Council of State (NCS) would soon be convened to deliberate on possible options.

President Obasanjo, while responding to Gov. Saraki’s claim that N180 million was being deducted from the state’s monthly allocations from the Federation Account to service its (Kwara’s) $350 million debt, assured that all the affected states would soon get a reprieve.

He said that once the country completely got out of the shackles of external debt, the states would have the opportunity of using such deductions to finance human welfare programmes.

“We are going into the human angle of NEEDS, like food supply, health, electricity and so on. We are indeed challenged to do what is right for the people and Nigeria,” he stated.

President Obasanjo commended Gov. Saraki for the laudable programmes he was executing in the state while singling out the bringing of Zimbabwean commercial farmers as a big boost to the agricultural sector.

In his remarks, the governor, whose delegation came to congratulate the president on the debt relief, submitted that the debt deal was the beginning of good things for the country, describing it as not only a historic victory for Nigeria, but a personal victory for the President.

He, however, lamented that the state which he classified as a highly indebted poor area was not finding it easy with a $350 million debt profile for which N160 million was being deducted monthly to service.

Gov. Saraki pointed out that he subscribed to the idea of using the excess crude oil revenue to pay off the balance of the debt so as to obtain total freedom.

Meanwhile, Gen. Buhari called on the federal government to explain the conditions under which it obtained the recent debt relief.

Buhari, who made the call yesterday at a news conference at his Daura residence, said Nigerians would be “very much interested to know under what conditions the relief was arrived at.”

He said the federal government might have got the relief from Paris Club under circumstances, conditions and terms that might not be favourable to the common man.

He maintained that debt relief of such magnitude could not have come “so easily and cheaply,” saying without explanation, Nigerians would be suspicious.

Possible conditions for such relief, Buhari said, could include the devaluation of the naira and massive retrenchment among others.

He, therefore advised that the government should not be seen to be accepting such conditions.

Lere Ojedokun, Daily Champion (Lagos), July 15, 2005