Yemi Osinbajo on Monday said that the Buhari administration has reached out to the U.S. government to increase its assistance in ensuring that corrupt officials do not get a safe haven abroad for their loot.

The Vice President said this during the visit of a U.S. Congressional Delegation to the Presidential Villa.

According to Prof. Osinbajo, “we have reached out to the US government with respect to helping with repatriation of proceeds of crime and proceeds of corruption.’’

Osinbajo, who was appreciative of the support given by the U.S. so far, said the Buhari administration sees corruption as an existential threat that must be dealt with at its root.

“We have worked quite closely with the U.S. government on repatriation of funds. We have achieved some results,’’ he said adding that the Federal Government expected more improvement in the process.

He noted that if corrupt public officials are able to find a safe haven for the proceeds of their criminality they will continued with the crime.

“And these officials think that if they are able to get the proceeds out of the country, they might as well get away with it.”

“This is one of the reasons we have taken several actions to ensure that we are able to deal with it,” he said.

“Because some of the major dislocations in the economy are on account of the problems we have seen with corruption.’’

He further stated that the Buhari presidency’s strategy which is one of the most effective ways of fighting corruption is ensuring that these proceeds are unsafe.

“The strategy is for these perpetrators to know that they would be found out and would be severely punished for their crimes, and  seize whatever profit they have gained.’’

On the return of the Chibok girls, the Vice President said, “it is a front burner issue for us all the time, there is no question of not continuing to negotiate and looking for the girls.’’

He expressed gratitude to God for the hope that the girls are still alive and would be released.

The Vice President noted that negotiations were on going and government would keep looking for every opportunity to bring them back.

The Vice President thanked the U.S. government for its recent decision to sell Super Tucano aircraft to Nigeria to aid its fight against insurgency in the North-East.

Sen. Christopher Coons, who led the delegation, said the visit was to reaffirm the relationship between Nigeria and the U.S., noting that the U.S. had an enduring enthusiasm and partnership with Nigeria.

Other members of the Congressional delegation include Senators Gary Peters, Jeff Merkley, Michael Bennet, Reps Lisa Blunt Rochester, Terri Sewell, Charlie Dent, Barbara Lee and Frederica Wilson.

The delegation was accompanied by the U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria, Stuart Symington.

Also in attendance were the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Geoffery Onyeama, Minister of Agriculture, Chief Audu Ogbeh, the National Security Adviser, Maj. Gen. Babgana Monguno, and the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar.

THE NATION