Buhari laments the fact that he cannot recover all of Nigeria's looted funds as the looting was massive

PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari has said that it will be impossible for his government to identify and recover all the funds looted from the country by the previous administration as the plunder that took place was massive.

Since assuming office in 2015, President Buhari has made the war against corruption the main focus of his government and numerous officials of the former administration have been arrested and charged to court. Speaking in London yesterday while receiving members of the Buhari Diaspora Support Organisation, the president claimed that his administration has not done badly when compared with what it met on ground when he took over in 2015.

He added that the damage done to Nigeria’s economy in the years of plunder was massive and his government was doing its best to recover some of the loot but noted that it was impossible to identify and recover all. He noted that Nigeria was gifted with tremendous human and natural resources, but regretted that failure of some of the leadership we had in the past led to Nigeria not being able to capitalise on resources to improve the lot of the people.

President Buhari said: “We will do our best to justify your trust in us and that confidence won’t be abused as we will do our best to justify it.  I am happy that people like you are here, on your own, defending the country as you have shown courage and sacrifice.

Saying wicked people plundered the country and kept Nigerians poor, the president added that looking at the condition in which the current administration met the country, without savings and the economy badly vandalised, it has not done too badly. He added that he wondered how the previously government had behaved so badly.

“If they had used 50% of the money we made when oil prices went as high as $143 per barrel and stabilised at $100 with production at 2.1m barrels per day for many years, Nigerians would have done well. The stealing was so much and they were so inept that they could not even cover the stealing properly," President Buhari added.

Charles Sylvester, the coordinator of the Buhari Diaspora Support Organisation, said the group was happy with the achievements of the administration so far. he pledged the group's commitment to the president's re-election campaign, adding that they will back his second term bid.

Mr Sylvester said: “You met a difficult situation but you have overcome most of them. We are happy with the agriculture revolution, the ease of doing business, the anti-corruption war, the employment of youths through the N-Power programme and the blockage of leakages in the public sector through the Treasury Single Account.

“We are proud of the speed with which you recovered the abducted Dapchi schoolgirls and it shows you as a worthy general. We are happy that you have declared for 2019 and the majority of Nigerians are happy but agents of corruption and darkness are unhappy but the same God, who healed you when you were ill, will grant you victory in the 2019 elections."