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ABUJA. — Nigeria’s president Muhammadu Buhari has pledged to recover “mind-boggling” amounts of stolen oil money and bring those responsible to book, his spokesperson said yesterday.

The 72-year-old head of state, in Washington for talks with US officials, alleged that 250 000 barrels of crude oil were being stolen every day, with the profits going into individual bank accounts.

Buhari, a former military ruler, has carved a reputation as a no-nonsense crusader against graft and has vowed the corrupt and corruption “will have no place” in his government.

He told an audience at the Nigerian Embassy in Washington on Tuesday evening that the United States and other countries “are helping us to trace such accounts now”.

“We will ask that such accounts be frozen and prosecute the persons. The amount involved is mind-boggling. Some former ministers were selling about one million barrels per day,” he alleged.

“I assure you that we will trace and repatriate such money and use the documents to prosecute them,” he said, according to a statement from his spokesperson Femi Adesina.

Buhari, in power since May 29, has pinpointed the state-run oil firm as a key culprit in a pervasive culture of corruption, sacked the entire board and ordered an investigation into its finances.

Last year, a political row ensued between his predecessor Goodluck Jonathan and the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, who alleged $20bn of oil revenue had gone missing.

The governor, Lamido Sanusi, was later sacked. — AFP.