United States’ Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. James Entwistle, speaks with BAYO AKINLOYE:
Q: With various figures being bandied about concerning Nigeria’s looted funds kept abroad, like in the US, amounting to between $61 billion and $150 billion, how much really is the US trying to assist Nigeria recover?
A: It is hard to say because we have not — we do not — know about all of the divergence; all of the investigations already held. Getting the money back will take a long time. First of all, it takes forensic accounting work to figure out exactly what money is where; it is not an easy task. The second thing is (that) whenwe make cases and we take them to court,they can take a long time in the court. I believe the case involving the Abacha era; they are still working on it in the US. Therefore, the one thing that is absolutely crystal clear, however, as we said to Mr. President in Washington, is our intent and our willingness to work with this case. Buteven if they take time, even if we do not know the exact amount (of Nigeria’s looted funds) right now, we will do everything we can to help with the cases.