Nigeria lost $400bn oil revenue to theft-Ezekwesili

Former Minister of Education and former World Bank Vice President for Africa, Dr. Oby Ezekwesili, said Nigeria has lost more than $400 billion of its oil revenue to theft or mismanagement since 1960.She said this Tuesday, while presenting a paper titled 'Corruption, National Development, The Bar and The Judiciary' at the ongoing 52nd Annual General Conference of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA).Ezekwesili also pointed out some problems with the management of Nigeria's finances such as 20 percent of Nigeria's annual capital expenditure budget ending up in private pockets and one per cent of the population getting over 80 per cent of the funds received from oil sales.According to her, the fight against corruption and demand for good governance is a collective effort of government and citizens. 'In fact, results reveal that as much as 20 per cent of the entire capital expenditure will end up in private pockets annually. The negative effects of corruption is starkly demonstrated by the fact that based on current track record, Nigeria will miss all the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) target set in 2000 despite the richness of is natural and human resource endowments.
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