Nigerian elites siphoned millions from govt: study

LAGOS, NIGERIA:

Dozens of Nigerian political elites siphoned hundreds of millions of dollars from the government purse over decades and laundered it through buying properties in the United States, an NGO said on Tuesday.

Corruption is endemic in Nigeria, one of Africa's largest economies and its top oil producer.

The report's findings thrust graft back into the spotlight months before January's presidential election, which economic hardships and growing insecurity will define.

Since coming to office in 2023, President Bola Tinubu, who will seek re-election, declared war on graft but high-profile corruption trials are grinding slowly through the courts.

In the report, the investigative NGO Platform to Protect Whistleblowers in Africa (PPLAAF) lists "284 United States properties" collectively worth around $271 million and "linked to 61 current and former high-level Nigerian officials".

The investigation, which examined properties acquired since the end of military rule in 1999, also alleged the war against jihadists continues to enrich the "military elites".

More than half of the properties were bought by the officials during tenure "at precisely the moment when their access to state resources and influence was greatest".