According to East African, Information and Culture Minister, Lai Mohammed, claimed to have received numerous reports of looters also burying money in deep forests and their backyards.

Senior Special Advisor to the minister, Segun Adeyemi, was quoted as saying that, since a whistleblower policy had been introduced, the government had received tremendous support from Nigerians.

He further stated that the minister was grateful to Nigerians for their resolve in helping the government tackle graft by providing useful leads to government agencies.

"Yes, there is a monetary reward for any information that leads to recovery of looted funds, but from what we have seen; most of the Nigerians who have come forward with useful leads were driven by patriotism, rather than reward. Nigerians have daily inundated the offices of the appropriate government agencies with valuable information,’" Adeyemi was quoted as saying.

The west African nation’s government promised to protect and hand out hefty rewards to whistleblowers, according to reports.

Whistleblowers could be entitled to between 2.5% and 5% of funds recovered from information they provide about corruption, Finance Minister Kemi Adeosun, was quoted as saying in December last year.

This also came as dozens of prominent members of ex-president Goodluck Jonathan's regime - including ministers, politicians and relatives - were being charged with graft.

Several senior judges were facing charges of fraud, bribery and money laundering.

Meanwhile, some hard cash in different foreign, the local currencies was found in abandoned shops, private homes and shopping malls recently.

News24