Nigeria: President Buhari cracks whip on corrupt entities and officials

A year after being elected into office, Nigerian president, Muhammadu Buhari is finally keeping his promise of fighting corruption and ousting corrupt officials from his administration.

The whip was cracked after the presidency accused some 300 firms and individuals, including army officers, of embezzling 48 billion naira ($241.45 million) through overpaid defence contracts or fraud.

“A committee set up to probe contracts awarded by the Office of the National Security Adviser from 2011 to 2015 has indicted more than 300 companies and prominent citizens including serving and retired officers of the armed forces,” the presidency said in a statement.

Committee set up to probe Office of NSA (2011-2015) has indicted more than 300 companies and prominent citizens | https://t.co/6sVDwBnvS5

— President Buhari (@NGRPresident) March 24, 2016

Despite being the continents largest economy after rebasing its GDP in 2014, corruption has been blamed for the poverty levels of some 180 million Nigerians.

Early in March, Nigeria and Switzerland signed an agreement that was to allow for the return of more than 300 million US dollars confiscated from the family of former military ruler, Sani Abacha.

Nigeria’s finance minister said the country planned to borrow some 5 billion US dollars from multiple sources, to try to plug deficits in the budget.

Companies and individuals, some listed in the presidential statement, had repaid more than 7 billion naira to the state and were expected to return a further 41 billion naira.

List of companies that failed to execute contracts or did so partially, & have therefore been asked to refund money: https://t.co/6sVDwBnvS5

— President Buhari (@NGRPresident) March 24, 2016

Amount recovered so far: N7bn
Amt to be refunded by indicted companies: N41bn
Amt still under investigation: N75bn https://t.co/6sVDwBnvS5

— President Buhari (@NGRPresident) March 24, 2016

According to former President Goodluck Jonathan’s supporters, corruption never spiked during his presidency and claim Buhari is conducting a witch-hunt against members of the opposition People’s Democratic Party.