Update on the $311 Abacha's loot recovered few days ago

There was a recent news that Nigeria has recovered over $311 million of the alleged stolen funds by the country’s former military ruler, General Sani Abacha, from the United States and Jersey. This was disclosed by the Attorney General’s office on Monday, April 4, 2020.

In the statement, which was signed by the Special Assistant on Media and Public relations to the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Dr Umar Gwandu, Malami, he said that the amount increased significantly from about $308 million mentioned in the earlier statement to over $311 million, as a result of interest that accrued from February 3 to April 28, when the fund was transferred to the Central Bank of Nigeria.

Malami pointed out that the litigation process for the return of the assets started in 2014, while the diplomatic process that led to the signing of the Asset Return Agreement began in 2018.

This agreement was signed on February 3 by the governments of Nigeria, the United States and the Bailiwick of Jersey. The minister noted that the agreement is based on international law and cooperation measures that set out the procedures for the repatriation, transfer, disposition and management of the assets.

However, the information released from the presidential Villa on on Thursday, 7 May, 2020 that, "the $311,797,876 repatriated to Nigerian Government following a trilateral agreement involving the USA, Nigeria, and the Bailiwick of Jersey, will be invested by Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority, through the Presidential Infrastructure Development Fund (PIDFund), into three critical infrastructure projects:

1. The Second Niger Bridge

2. The Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano Highway. 

3. The Lagos-Ibadan Expressway."

You will recalled that, the death of General Sani Abacha, pave way for the end of junta regain in Nigeria. After Abacha's death in 1998, General Abdulsalami Abubakar took over and ruled until Chief Olusẹgun Ọbasanjọ again became head of state via the 1999 presidential election, ending the junta and establishing the Fourth Nigerian Republic.

Since then probe into how the demised General spent and looted huge amount of money resources had been headache of the succeeding government. Starting from formal President Olusẹgun Ọbasanjọ, lot of looted funds has been repatriated into the economy.

Recently, the sum of $311,797,876 was repatriated again from the Abacha's loot. And the fund will also add value to the economy in areas of infrastructural development.