According to the statement issued by the US Department of Justice, this latest tranche of repatriated funds brings the total amount of repatriated funds in this case to approximately $332.4 million. But what has been done with the millions that have already been repatriated to the Nigerian government by the US?
On Thursday 17 November 2022, the US Department of Justice (DoJ) made a new announcement regarding the repatriation of funds reportedly pilfered by the now deceased General Sani Abacha and his accomplices during Abacha’s tenure as Nigeria’s military head of state (1993-1998).
The US DoJ said that in accordance with a 23 August 2022 agreement, it had transferred over $20.6 million to the Nigerian government. According to the statement issued by the DoJ, this latest tranche of repatriated funds brings the total amount of repatriated funds in this case to approximately $332.4 million.
The statement recalls that:
In 2014, a judgment was entered in the District of Columbia ordering the forfeiture of approximately $500 million located in accounts around the world, as the result of a civil forfeiture complaint for more than $625 million traceable to money laundering involving the proceeds of General Abacha’s corruption. In 2020, the department repatriated over $311.7 million of the forfeited assets that had been located in the Bailiwick of Jersey. Last year, the U.K. government enforced the U.S. judgment against the additional over $20.6 million.
As reported by The Republic earlier this year, in August 2022, officials made proposals as to what the August 2022 tranche of $23 million ought to be used for. Some officials, such as Nigeria’s attorney general, Abubakar Malami, said that developing infrastructure within the country would be prudent use of the recovered Abacha loot. However, others like the national president of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Professor Emmanuel Osodeke, thought it best that the recovered funds be used to bring about an end to the ASUU strike.
But what has been done with the millions that have already been repatriated to the Nigerian government by the US?
Incidentally, also on 17 November 2022, the Nigerian government, through the National Social Safety-Nets Coordinating Office, disclosed that over a six-year period, 1.9 million poor and vulnerable households have benefitted from $700 million of Abacha’s repatriated funds. But on the very same day, the Nigeria Multidimensional Poverty Index published by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) revealed that over 133 million Nigerians are living in poverty. The NBS announced this, noting that the figure represents 63 per cent of the nation’s population.
Indeed, in light of the recent flooding and hunger crises, and the dire statistics that continue to be revealed in light of them, it is curious that the aforementioned $700 million does not seem to have made any significant difference to the victims of these crises⎈
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