The Federal Government says it will sign a tripartite agreement with the Island of New Jersey and the United States of America for the repatriation of $321 million looted assets.
This was disclosed in a statement by the Special Adviser on Media and Public Relations to the office of the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Umar Gwandu.
According to Gwandu, the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, is in the US to attend an annual three-day meeting of the United States-Nigeria Bi-national Commission in Washington DC.
He stated that Malami is expected to, on behalf of the Federal Government, sign the pact as part of efforts to recover more stolen funds stashed abroad. The statement said the meeting is aimed at reviewing bilateral relationship and taking the necessary steps to advance mutual interest in all diplomatic areas among the two countries.
Other FG delegation attending the event includes Minister of Industry, Trade, and Investment, Adeniyi Adebayo; Minister of Defence, Maj. Gen. Bashir Magashi (rtd); Minister of Foreign Affairs; Geoffrey Onyeama, National Security Adviser; Major General Babagana Monguno (rtd) as well as Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management, and Social Development; Sadiya Umar Fork.
Abacha’s Loot Recovered
After Nigeria’s successful changeover to democratic rule in 1999, a high-profile campaign aimed at securing the repatriation of looted public funds being held in foreign banks was launched. The campaign was championed former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who is a long-standing critic of corrupt military regimes and played a major role in the creation of the global anti-corruption NGO, known as Transparency International.
In May 2002, then President, Obasanjo went into a deal with the Abacha Family to recover $1.2 billion stolen funds by their father.
In November 2003, then Finance Minister, Ngozi Okonjo Iweala said Nigeria had recovered $149 million out of the sum from Jersey Island.
In September 2005, Okonjo Iweala again announced in Switzerland that Nigeria had gotten $458 million and like $2 billion in assets from the Abacha loot.
In 2007, then Finance Minister, Nenadi Usman said the government gave a total of $2.5 billion recovered funds to the ministry of power, works, health, education, and water resources to do projects.
In 2014, Okonjo Iweala made a U-turn and said only $500 million was recovered during her time as finance minister under Obasanjo and that it was used in funding projects.
In June 2014, Liechtenstein returned $227 million to Nigeria from Abacha’s loot.
In August 2014, the United States Department of Justice announced the largest refund they are giving back will be $480 million to the Nigerian government.
In 2016, Switzerland confirms that they had returned $723 million so far to the Nigerian government from the Abacha loot.
Various Nigerians at one time or the order have been accused of looting funds and stashing them abroad. Though the Buhari government has contributed largely to the recovery of some amount claiming it is being pumped into the social investment programs of his government, he has been accused himself of smuggling looted funds into the country.
The presidential candidate of the PDP, Atiku Abubakar when accused of plotting to ferry looted funds into the country ahead of the 2019 elections revealed that;
“Young Nigerians and millennia that may not be aware of this incident will do well to check the facts. Only the guilty are afraid. It is President Muhammadu Buhari who has a history of smuggling in looted funds and not Waziri Atiku Abubakar.
With $2.2 billion of the $5 billion Abacha loot recovered from at least 6 countries, the social-economic rights and accountability project reveal that most of the funds have been re looted or mismanaged.
What will the outcome of the tripartite Treaty on $321m Looted Assets Stashed Abroad be, if Nigeria looks the other way?
