In line with President Buhari’s drive to eradicate corruption, Nigeria has, in less than two months, recovered $177 million of embezzled funds, the information Ministry revealed in a statement on Sunday.

“The looted funds were recovered from just three sources through whistle-blowers who gave actionable information to the office of the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation. The biggest amount of $136.7 million was recovered from an account in a commercial bank, where the money was kept under an apparently fake account name,” Lai Mohammed (photo), the Minister of Information said in the statement.

Concerning the money recovered, the official said it is “just a tip of the iceberg”.

Last week Friday, the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC), Nigeria's anti-corruption watchdog, also seized $9.8 million in cash from the former head of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), under the whistleblower programme. The programme which was launched in December 2016 states that those who help find stolen assets are entitled to up to 5% of the recovered sums.

Anita Fatunji