Following the uncovering of $300m linked to former Nigeria leader, late Gen. Sani Abacha in a British island, the federal government of Nigeria has revealed that negotiations between Nigeria, the United States of America and the Island of Jersey has commenced for the return of cash.
The government through the Special Assistant to the President on Justice Sector Reform and National Coordinator for Open Government Partnership, Mrs Juliet Ibekaku-Nwagwu noted that negotiations have reached an advanced stage.
The aide disclosed that negotiations and litigation on money have been ongoing for over three years between the USA, Island of Jersey and Nigeria. Ibekaku-Nwagwu refuted reports that the money will be divided between Nigeria, US and Jersey. She noted that the decision of the court in Jersey is that the fund belongs to Nigeria, adding that the concluding part of the negotiation is to determine how it would be utilized.
It would be recalled that the Federal Government had received the sum of $752m Abacha loot from Switzerland in March 2005, which was said to have gone into infrastructure. Nigeria also received another $322.5m from Switzerland in December 2017, which is being used for cash transfers to the poor. The repatriations followed court pronouncements and MoUs between Nigeria, the World Bank and Switzerland with monitoring by the civil society on the utilization. One of the Swiss officials involved in the negotiations with Nigeria, Roberto Balzaretti, had told the BBC in 2017 that strict conditions were attached to the transfer of the money back to Nigeria and would be supervised by the World Bank, which will also conduct regular audits. Mr Balzaretti added that if the money was not properly accounted for, subsequent payment would be halted to prevent the funds from being stolen again.
