Abacha Loot: Funds will go into construction of Abuja-Kaduna-Kano, COVID-19 fight

The Nigerian Government has announced that it would divert the recently recovered Abacha loot worth $311m from the United States to road construction and the adequate management of the Coronavirus pandemic in the country.

Spokesperson for the Presidency, Garba Shehu, made this revelation in a statement Tuesday.

Shehu also mentioned that the recovered loot would also be utilized in the completion of the Mambilla Power Project, which has the capacity to generate electricity for domestic use Nigerian in more households.

Shehu said, “On Monday, May 4, 2020, some $311m stolen from the citizens of Nigeria during the Abacha regime were safely returned to our country from the United States.

“These funds have already been allocated and will be used in full for vital and decades-overdue infrastructure development: The second Niger Bridge, the Lagos-Ibadan and Abuja-Kaduna-Kano expressways – creating tens of thousands of Nigerian construction jobs and local skills, which can then be useful in future projects.

“Part of the funds will also be invested in the Mambilla Power Project which when completed, will provide electricity to some three million homes – over ten million citizens in our country.

“The receipt of these stolen monies and the hundreds of millions more that have already been returned from the United Kingdom and Switzerland are an opportunity for the development of our nation, made far harder for those decades the country was robbed of these funds.

“Indeed, previous monies returned last year from Switzerland, some $320m, are already being used for the government’s free school feeding scheme, a stipend for millions of disadvantaged citizens, and grain grants for those in severe food hardship.

“Without these funds, the fight against COVID-19 would be even tougher.”