The Federal Government of Nigeria on Monday confirmed the receipt of $311m looted by the country’s late military head of state, Gen. Sani Abacha.

Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, in a statement by his Special Assistant on Media and Public Relations, Dr Umar Jibrilu Gwandu, said approximately $311,797,866.11 of the Abacha loot was repatriated from the US and Jersey.

This is a significant increase from the $308 million mentioned in an earlier statement in February to over $311million .

This increase is as a result of the interest that accrued from February 3 to April 28, when the fund was transferred to the Central Bank of Nigeria.

The AGF noted that the litigation process for the return of the assets titled ‘Abacha III’ commenced in 2014 while the diplomatic process that culminated in the signing of the Asset Return Agreement commenced in 2018.

The agreement was signed on February 3 by the governments of Nigeria, the United States, and the Bailiwick of Jersey.

“This agreement is based on international law and cooperation measures that set out the procedures for the repatriation, transfer, disposition and management of the assets,” he said.

According to the statement, the recovery effort consolidates on the record of the Muhammadu Buhari administration which has a history of recovery of $322m from Switzerland in 2018.

He said, “In line with the 2020 Asset Return Agreement, the fund has been transferred to a Central Bank of Nigeria Asset Recovery designated account and would be paid to the National Sovereign Investment Authority within the next fourteen days. The NSIA is responsible for the management and execution of the projects to which the funds will be applied.”

Malami also said that the Federal Government had committed that the assets would support and assist in expediting the construction of three major infrastructure projects across Nigeria, including Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Abuja-Kano Road, and the Second Niger Bridge.

The statement said, “To ensure transparent management of the returned assets, the Nigerian government will also engage a civil society organisation, who has combined expertise in substantial infrastructure projects, civil engineering, anti-corruption compliance, anti-human trafficking compliance, and procurement to provide additional monitoring and oversight.

“The process for the engagement of the CSO monitor has already commenced with the adverts placed in two Nigeria newspapers – Daily Trust and The PUNCH (4th March, 2020 and a Notice of Extension on 17th April, 2020), the Federal Tender Journal (9th and 23rd March, 2020), the Economist (14th March, 2020). The advert can also be found on the website of the Federal Ministry of Justice.

“It may be recalled that the recovered funds were laundered through the US banking system and then held in bank accounts in the Bailiwick of Jersey. In 2014, a US Federal Court in Washington D.C. forfeited the money as property involved in the illicit laundering of the proceeds of corruption arising in Nigeria during the period from 1993 to 1998 when General Abacha was Head of State.”