U.S, Nigeria Agreement On Abacha’s $311m Loot Exempt Mambilla Power, East-West Road Projects — Presidency

The Presidency has made clearification on the agreement signed between the Nigerian, United States and British territory of Jersey governments on how the recently repatriated Sani Abacha loot will be expended.

Malam Garba Shehu, the President’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, who gave this clarification in a statement in Abuja on Wednesday, said that three of the Federal Government’s five priority projects, excluding the Mambilla power and East-West road projects will benefit from the repatriated funds.

The statement read in part: “In an earlier statement, I had mistakenly noted that the Mambilla was one of five priority projects to benefit from the $311 million Abacha loot under the Presidential Infrastructure Development Fund (PIDF) managed by the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA). That error is regretted.

“Although the Mambilla and East-West expressway are regarded under the PIDF as priority projects, I have ascertained that they are exempted from the agreement signed between the Nigerian, United States and British territory of Jersey governments.

“According to the document, only the second Niger bridge, Abuja-Kaduna-Kano expressway, and Lagos-Ibadan expressway will benefit from the repatriated funds. The funds are domiciled in the NSIA.”

The presidential aide, therefore, enjoined all print and online media to take note of the correction and make the necessary adjustments to their previous publications on the issue.