President Muhammadu Buhari has declared that he had started receiving documents on how former ministers and government officials looted oil funds.

Speaking at the Nigerian Embassy, Washington DC during an interactive session with Nigerians in Diaspora,, he sad  “About 250,000 barrels per day of Nigerian crude are being stolen and people sell and put the money into individual accounts. In other instances, some former ministers were selling about one million barrels per day.”

He said evidence of massive looting and stealing of Nigerian crude oil by some government officials, including some former ministers was being compiled by relevant agencies to aid the prosecution of those involved in the scams.

He added that the government would then head to court to prosecute the culprits and recover the loots.

Leaders of developed countries where these funds were kept had been contacted to assist Nigeria to freeze such accounts, he said.

"We are now looking for evidences of shipping some of our crude, their destinations and where and which accounts they were paid into and in which country.

"When we get as much as we can get, as soon as possible, we will approach those countries to freeze those accounts and go to court, prosecute those people and let the accounts be taken to Nigeria.

"The United States and other developed countries are helping us to trace such accounts now. We will ask that such accounts be frozen and to prosecute the persons.

"The amount involved is mind-boggling. Some former ministers were selling about one million barrels per day.

"I assure you that we will trace and repatriate such money and use the documents to prosecute them. A lot of damage has been done to the integrity of Nigeria with individuals and institutions already compromised.

"I assure you that whichever documents we are able to get and subsequently trace the sale of the crude or transfer of money from Ministries, Departments, Central Bank, we will ask the cooperation of those countries to return those monies to federation accounts.

“And we will use those documents to arrest those people and prosecute them. This, I promise Nigerians", the president said.