NTERROGATING NIGERIA'S ECONOMIC DIPLOMACY AND RECOVERY OF LOOTED FUNDS FROM FOREIGN COUNTRIES IN FOURTH REPUBLIC, 1999-2024

The culture of impunity that characterized the military rule from 1984 to 1999 introduced a culture of unaccountability in public life. The military rulers of that period suspended the constitution and all the virtues therein. The civil democratic rulers who were haphazardly ushered into public offices through a haphazard constitution drafted by the military; failed to meet the yearnings of the citizens for the period of the Fourth Republic. Successive administration during this period were not accountable; which led to misappropriation of public funds that were laundered and stashed in foreign banks. Smokescreen efforts to reverse this, failed woefully, as recovered looted funds from foreign countries are re-laundered to foreign banks. Findings from the study have established that Nigeria’s foreign policy instruments utilized in recovering the country’s looted funds from foreign countries failed to achieve that goal because the domestic environment is not fully sanitized. Transparency and accountability in the disbursement of the recovered looted funds remains problematic. It is this failure that informs the motive to embark on the study. The main objective of the study is to establish the lacuna that has created this culture of mismanagement of public funds. At the end, conclusion was drawn and recommendations made such as overhauling of the Constitution where commensurate punishment will be meted to all those convicted of mismanagement of public funds to serve as effective deterrent.