Abuja — Chairman of Economic and Financial crimes Commission (EFCC) Mallam Nuhu Ribadu yesterday accused the United Nation's Office for Drug and Crimes (UNODC) of withholding information regarding the $400 billion stashed away by politicians in the last five decades.

This is as Ribadu announced that over N500 billion, in cash and assets, has so far been recovered from corrupt officials of government by the commission.

It would be recalled that the executive director of UNODC, Mr. Anthonio Maria Costa while speaking in Abuja during the 6th National Seminar on Economic Crime, organized by EFCC declared that Nigeria has lost billions of dollars to corruption between 1960 and 1999.

Meanwhile, President of West African Bar Association (WABA), Mr. Femi Falana has identified lack of obedience to court rulings by successive government as an obstacles to the fight against corruption in the country.

He particularly accused the incumbent administration of deliberately obstructing justice in the effort to unmask and prosecute corrupt public officers.

Ribadu speaking at the "high-level Panel discussion on Anti Corruption War in Nigeria, Achievements, Challenges and the way forward" in commemoration of the world Anti-Corruption Day in Abuja explained that though the UNDOC gave hint of such money stashed away recently, "there is no direct information on the money"

Speaking through the EFCC's secretary, Emmanuel Akomaye, the commission's boss explained that an initiative to recover the loot is already in motion.

He accused the countries that are in possession of these monies of refusing to either give any information or render assistance through giving the commission or the country any lead to the where about of the money or the amount involved and from which source.

"There is no direct information on this money but that is why we have an initiative which was launched a couple of months back that is meant to address how some of these money could be traced and returned. The problem with access to recovering it is that none of the country is ready to help us provide some lead, that is the truth and the whole process of legal assistance and cooperation between countries will now come into play," he said.

Ribadu maintained, "It is a very lot of process but we must first as a country do some preliminary work at home to show some form of seriousness, none of the receiving countries will come to you and say these are the monies stolen from your country. In fact until recent when some countries abolished the bank secrecy law, you could not even get anything, even if you provide the preliminary information you will still run into the problem of getting anything from the other countries because of banking secrecy law"

"That is a staggering amount of money - almost unimaginable. Indeed, astronomical because if you were to put $400 billion bills in a row, you could make a path from here to the moon and back, not once but 75 times."

He also promised that "While the past cannot be undone, there is hope that some of vast amounts that were stolen can be recovered to benefit the present generation. In the future, I hope that - with access to safe havens precluded - no more money will be stolen from the people of Nigeria."

Meanwhile Falana delivering a keynote address at the 2007 Law Week of the Nigerian Bar Association, Enugu Branch, pointed out that the government has failed to adequately meet the basic needs of the citizens because it has not performed in accordance with standards consistent with ethical governance and the rule of law.

He noted that the activities of the institutions such as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) had made notable contribution to the anti-corruption fight in the country but regretted that the attitude of the present administration to the fight was not encouraging.

Referring to the refusal of the Nigerian government to cooperate with the British authorities in corruption and money laundering charges against a former governor, the Lagos lawyer said with the recent attitude of the government it was not surprising that government workers lower down the ranks operating under poor working conditions have turned to "petty corruption" often simply to survive.

"The net impact of this systemic corruption is a serious erosion of the rule of law, by a government that is supposedly committed to good governance, transparency, accountability and anti-corruption," he said.

Falana, who spoke on the theme, "Ethics and Governance, the Rule of Law and Anti-Corruption: A Nigerian Dilemma", stressed that for democracy to work, the citizens must have access to information about that their government is doing and how decisions have been reached.

He said: "The chief impediments to transparency and accountability in government in Nigeria are lack of strong and committed leadership, and lack of political will. These impediments make difficult dealing with corruption. Overall, the lack of transparency and accountability of successive governments has made possible the divestment of state assets in favour of personal interests rather than public interest, allowing the massive diversion of huge public funds into private pockets."

According to him, building the rule of law in Nigeria requires the development of a relatively autonomous institutional legal and judicial structure to counterbalance the political power of the federal authorities, adding that the rule of law requires that "official decisions be justified in law, and therefore be reasoned and non-arbitrary with respect to general legal standards.

He further emphasized the need for transparency and human rights saying public accountability "is a key aspect of the rule of law, and it is not possible without public disclosure of important legal materials and information".

Noting that no other issue raises greater passion in political and legal discussions about Nigeria than the question of respect for basic human rights, Falana stated that attempts towards the establishment of the rule of law should include "a discussion about how the legal and judicial system should act or should be made to act must recognize and protect internationally recognized economic, social and cultural rights."

"It is absolutely important that the government should invoke national and international laws and institutions in the fight against corruption in a consistent and fair manner. However, without cooperation with other countries to recapture and repatriate Nigeria's stolen wealth and resources, we will continue to witness half-measured and rhetorical commitment in the fight against corruption," the legal luminary said.