US releases $312 million Abacha loot to Nigerian Government

The United States government and the Bailiwick of Jersey have released $312 million recovered loot of General Sani Abacha to the Nigerian government.

Attorney-General of Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, disclosed this on Monday in a statement by his media aide, Dr Umar Gwandu.

Malami said the recovered loot will be used for expediting the construction of three major infrastructure projects across Nigeria – Lagos – Ibadan Expressway, Abuja – Kano Road, and the Second Niger B

He said the litigation process for the return of the assets titled ‘Abacha III’ commenced in 2014 while the diplomatic process that culminated in the signing of the Asset Return Agreement commenced in 2018.

Malami said the amount increased significantly from over $308 million mentioned in an earlier statement in February to over $311million as a result of the interest that accrued from February 3 to April 28, when the fund was transferred to the Central Bank of Nigeria.

The minister noted that the recovered loots were transparently and judiciously deployed in supporting indigent Nigerians as specified in the agreement signed with Switzerland and the World Bank.

The statement read in part: “In line with the 2020 Asset Return Agreement, the fund has been transferred to a Central Bank of Nigeria Asset Recovery designated account and would be paid to the National Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) within the next fourteen days.

“The NSIA is responsible for the management and execution of the projects to which the funds will be applied.”