Nigerians Own 15 Billion Dollars In Private Accounts Abroad Nigerians Own 15 Billion Dollars In Private Accounts Abroad December 6, 1999 Paul Ejime, PANA Correspondent LAGOS, Nigeria (PANA) - Nigeria may be rated among the 25 poorest nations of the world today by the UNDP, but a study by a World Bank agency, has revealed that a handful of Nigerians hold a staggering 15 billion US dollars in private accounts outside Africa. According to figures from the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), a World Bank affiliate, whose officials are currently visiting Nigeria, this amount held by Nigerians in private accounts, is more than 50 percent of the country's estimated 28 billion dollars external debt stock. It also represents 13.6 percent of the 110 billion dollars in private accounts of citizens of sub-Saharan Africa, held outside the continent. The agency said that next to Nigerians is a handful of Democratic Republic of Congo citizens with some 8 billion dollars in their private accounts outside Africa. Although MIGA officials would not say how much of these amounts are looted public funds, the government of President Olusegun Obasanjo has set itself an unenviable task of retrieving billions of dollars of Nigeria's wealth stolen and stashed away in foreign banks by officials of former regimes. Presenting the national budget for fiscal 2000 last week, Obasanjo disclosed that more than 600 million dollars of the amount had been frozen in various foreign accounts. MIGA's Africa Regional Manager, Ken Kwaku, told journalists that 10 percent of funds in the private accounts of some Nigerians outside Africa was equivalent to total foreign direct investment flow into the country in 1998. "Nigeria is not a capital deficient country," he said, adding that the "important thing now is for the country to develop a good business environment to attract (more) capital flow." Kwaku, however, said the situation had started to improve for Nigeria's economic development, with some 29 applications already received by MIGA for project guarantee in the country. "On the government side," he said, "officials are reckoning on MIGA, especially with prospects of privatisation brightening, which will manifestly improve the agency's portfolio in Nigeria." Much of Nigeria's oil wealth is believed to have either been mismanaged or stolen during prolonged military dictatorships, which held sway for almost 30 of the nation's 39 years of independence. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright © 1999 Panafrican News Agency. All Rights Reserved.