US state of New Jersey hands Nigeria the sum of $8.9m that were the proceeds of corruption

NIGERIA has been handed $8.9m by the government of the state of New Jersey in the US which were recovered as proceeds of corruption under the cover of phoney arms purchase contracts carried out during the Goodluck Jonathan era.

Apparently, the transactions were carried out at the height of Nigeria’s war against terrorism in 2014, according to a statement from the office of the New Jersey Attorney General, Mark Temple. On January 12, the Royal Court in the state granted the attorney general’s request for the forfeiture of the sum of $8.9m on behalf of Nigeria.

Mr Temple said: “I now intend to negotiate an asset return agreement with the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The tainted property was deposited into a Jersey bank account by Nigerian companies in 2014.

“It was more likely than not stolen from the people of Nigeria by high-ranking officials within certain departments of the Nigerian government in 2014. Illicit payments were disguised as transactions relating to government-sanctioned contracts for the purchase of arms and aviation equipment during incursions by Boko Haram in Nigeria between 2009 and 2015."

Since 2014, there have been numerous public scandals in Nigeria around the use of funds meant for the purchase of arms to fight the war against insurgency. In late 2014, a private jet belonging to then president of the Christian Association of Nigeria, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, was detained in South Africa with $10m cash on board that was said to be meant for the purchase of arms.

Subsequent investigations back in Nigeria had pointed to huge diversions of Nigerian arms funds under the control of the Office of the National Security Adviser. These funds were meant for the procurement of arms for the fight against the long-drawn war against Boko Haram terrorists primarily in the northeast of the country.