The Federal Government, has signed a new agreement with the United States of America (USA) for the repatriation of the sum of $23,439,724, allegedly looted by the late military Head of State, General Sani Abacha.
The money, allegedly stolen from the national treasury by Abacha, which is now known as the ‘Abacha Loot,’ has been repatriated from most countries in Europe and the Americas since his death in 1998 and return of democracy in 1999.
The agreement was signed on Tuesday by the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, for the Nigerian government, while the US government was represented by its Ambassador to Nigeria, Mary Beth Leonard at a ceremony in Abuja.
The minister said the decision to return the stolen Abacha loot which he tagged as Abacha-5, was a product of series of negotiations and meetings between Nigeria, the U.S. Department of Justice and the UK National Crime Agency, NCA.
He further stated that in line with the terms of the agreement, President Muhammadu Buhari had already approved the funds to be utilised for the ongoing Presidential Development Infrastructural Funds (PIDF) projects namely; Abuja-Kano Road, Lagos-Ibadan Express Way and the Second Niger Bridge under the supervision of Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA).
“The President’s mandate to my office is to ensure that all international recoveries are transparently invested and monitored by civil society organisations to complete these three projects within the agreed timeline,” Malami stated.
