Executive Director of the Atum Humanitarian Anti-Corruption and Charitable Initiative (AHACCI), Ambassador Ismaila Yusuf Atus, has called for the repatriation of looted Nigerian funds and assets stashed abroad by public officials.
In an interview with Saturday Sun, Atus argued that such resources, if redirected into the country, would create jobs and drive development.
He further threw his weight behind a proposed bill seeking to ban public officials and their immediate families from using foreign schools and hospitals, insisting that leaders must be compelled to invest in Nigeria's education and healthcare systems rather than patronising foreign institutions.
He also addressed public concerns about NGOs being used as conduits for money laundering, outlined his experience in the fight against corruption, and highlighted how AHACCI promotes accountability in government projects.
He also discusses the growing menace of internet fraud among youths, the challenges of funding NGOs, and his proposals for new anti-corruption legislation.
What informed your decision to establish this organisation? When was it created, and what are its aims and objectives?
We have been existingsince 2023. We have empowered a lot of Nigerians in our own way because we have companies that we run. We are not just an NGO, we have personal businesses and private companies. So based on that, we decided to come out and assist Nigerians. As you know, the rate of poverty is high and the populace is so many, and the workload is much on the government. So as an NGO and businessmen, what we do is, anything that we make in terms of profit from our businesses, we donate a fraction to assist the people.
Talking about our vision, it is to raise awareness in society against corruption and report cases to the appropriate authorities and agencies, because a lot is going on in the country and we wish to support the government.
The government alone cannot do it; there must be people who are willing to support the government in anything that is going wrong in the country. If every one of us becomes a critic, the government is bound to fail. So we always try as much as possible to support the government, and the current President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has done very well, and that is why we shall always support his government.
Some Nigerians believe that many foundations today have become mere conduits for money laundering. What is your response to this perception?
Yes, I agree with you; there are so many illicit means through which people launder money and get money from the government. It's not just through non-governmental organisations (NGOs), not just in Nigeria but all over the world. But how to curtail it is what matters most and what we should be focused on. If you talk about NGOs involved in money laundering, there are so many businesses involved in money laundering too. So it's not all the NGOs that are involved in such. Our major focus is to be sincere to the people and to the government in the fight against corruption, which is what we have been yearning for in this country.
What experience do you have in fighting corruption that makes you qualified to champion this initiative?
I was nominated as Director-General (DG) of the NGO. But mind you, the NGO has a lot of lawyers and legal teams involved, journalists, and a lot of people who are experienced professionals in different fields.
We have a director of Government Analysis, we have senior lawyers who have been practising for more than 15 years, we have investigative journalists. On my part, I am an experienced person in government, someone who knows the inner workings of government in Africa, not just Nigeria. So we are people of like minds with so much experience who came together to form this organisation.
With government officials often requesting huge sums for projects, how does AHACCI intend to promote accountability and transparency in public spending?
Most of the problems we have in Africa and Nigeria is the cost of management. Most of those materials used for projects are foreign materials, and the only time we can get it right in Africa is when we decide to use our local materials. But when we go for foreign materials and convert to naira with the high rate of the dollar, it becomes more expensive. So, the only way out and advice to the government and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is for them to always use local materials and production. The advice also goes to other African presidents.
Why the cost always seems high is because they bring foreign partners, workers, and materials. When you go to the seaport today, you'll see a lot of foreign materials they bring into the country. For you to convert those dollars, euros, or Chinese yuan into our own currency, you have no option than to have a bigger volume. But we Nigerians, when we hear the currency volume in naira, it sounds like a very huge sum. But mind you, we are talking about foreign currency. Our advice for this government and subsequent ones is to use our local human and material resources, and we shall see that the cost will reduce.
We have been doing a lot of analysis on government contracts as well as private investigations, and each time we do that we come up with our findings. If we find any abnormality, we write to all the parties involved including the contractors, ministries, and agencies in charge. We shall keep doing that for the benefit of our country.
Internet fraud, popularly known as "Yahoo Yahoo," is on the rise among young people. What specific steps is your foundation taking to address this trend?
We have educated a lot of Nigerian youths, and we encourage them to be hardworking and make money legitimately and have peace of mind, rather than being on the run due to being involved in criminal activities.
What we have been doing is to make sure we educate and train many of them, and let them know that they are important and ambassadors of our country, and that they have to be patriotic by putting up a good legacy.
We have been going round secondary and tertiary institutions, talking to young people and holding seminars. And you know it's not easy to tell a person that is involved in corruption to change, but we pray that God will guide us and lead us.
It's not just Nigeria. Internet fraud is all over the world now -- even the white people are also scamming Africans, and vice versa, based on our investigation and findings.
So we have been putting our heads together to make them know that as Africans we have a heritage to protect, and we have hard work and so many resources that they can use to make money.
We have the knowledge and manpower, and we have more resources than most European countries. If you have the knowledge to make money from the internet, then you must be smart and creative enough to make money legitimately. We have been organising a lot of workshops and seminars to enlighten our people, to make them see reasons they should be good ambassadors to the community and people they live in.
Despite the large number of foundations across the country, poverty remains widespread. In your view, have these organisations truly lived up to their objectives?
The truth is, most NGOs are willing and determined to assist the poor, but they don't have enough funds. Most people who try to get grants and raise funds don't find it easy. Why most of us are doing well in our field is because we are businessmen and have personal businesses apart from the NGOs. They are non-profitable organisations. We don't make money there. So from our business profits, we earmark what we shall give to the masses, and that is the way we can assist the people.
But what about those who think that registering an NGO is expensive and decide to cut corners? Now they have the NGO, but they don't have where to raise the money. So you see NGOs all over, but the means of raising money to fund them is scarce, so the poverty is much.
Currently, the government doesn't have a provision for funding NGOs. It's not like in the international communities, where there are some little opportunities of funding from the government to fund people in their own way. There should be a law for that, and they should make sure that NGOs are monitored and sincere, whereby they have that fund and that fund will go round to assist the poor.
The truth is those NGOs don't have funds. So if the government can get people who are stashing money to give to NGOs to support the people, you will see that a lot will be achieved.
Another problem we have again, like I said, because we are businessmen, is that most of these rich and influential Nigerians in public offices have NGOs, and they don't care to fund the smaller NGOs. They would rather fund their own, because the law permits you to run an NGO. They have different foundations, so any money that they make from their own business, they put in the foundation to assist people in their name. So those smaller NGOs who don't have businesses fold and collapse.
Finally, what advice would you give the government if it is genuinely committed to fighting corruption in Nigeria?
All over the world, corruption has not reduced totally except in North Korea and some parts of China. And the reason is that they speak one language. Today in Africa, in our country Nigeria, if a man fights a Hausa man, they will tell you you're victimising him because he's a Hausa man. If a Hausa man arrests a Yoruba man due to an alleged crime, they say you're fighting him because he's a Yoruba man. And even in America, Saudi Arabia, and all over the world.
To solve this, I am coming up with a bill to the Senate and House of Representatives, proposing that our own issue is to form another commission for people who have investments all over the world having stolen from government, and make it compulsory that, having stolen from government, you must relocate all those stolen wealth and assets back to the country and use it to give our people employment.
They should bring back those funds and invest them in Nigeria, instead of taking our money to Dubai, London, Swiss Bank, Bank of America name it.
There should be a commission that monitors anybody that has invested abroad and has worked in government, mostly if you're a government employee or elected, and give them a little fine to pay. Because most of them steal from government and take this money abroad and invest heavily in those countries and employ the citizens of those countries. Meanwhile, the countries that they stole the money from have no light, no roads, no good developments, and our people are suffering. They should have another commission to monitor which investments abroad were made from money stolen from Nigeria. I don't mean private businessmen, but I mean those who hold government offices. Once it is discovered you have a big hospital in London, a club, hotel, or any other investment, they must bring you back to Nigeria. That will make our country grow better.
What is your take on the proposed legislation which aims to ban public and civil servants, along with their immediate families, from using private schools and hospitals across the country?
That is a good bill for every public office holder to make sure they use our own hospitals, and their children must school in Nigeria as long as you occupy a government position.
Like I told you before now, when you talk about construction, the reason it's expensive is because we don't use local resources. Back to the question, most public office holders want to go abroad because they know that's the only place they can have the best schools, medicals, and other public infrastructures. But they forget that the best medical practitioners and teachers we have there are Nigerians.
That is why I said there must be a commission so that if you are a public office holder and you have businesses abroad, it simply means you stole our money. The commission must repatriate the business back to Nigeria. You cannot steal our money and take it abroad for investment while those you stole the money from are suffering.
There are many proposed bills, about 50, that we are working on to transmit to the Senate and House of Representatives, headed by Barr. Oluseyin Olusoyo. Our legal teams are on board. We have close to 50 lawyers and about 100 journalists who are with us, and more than 200 youths across the country.
We have our businesses, and you can't trace any illicit transaction to us. That is why we are bold enough to recommend President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for the well-known job that he is doing, and we are watching him. He should keep it up.