Apparently worried by past instances when recovered and repatriated funds were reportedly re-looted, the United States government has put the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari on notice, that the federal government bears direct responsibility to ensure that all repatriated funds and assets are expended judiciously for the purposes to which they have been designated; failure to which Nigeria will repay all such misappropriated amounts to the USA.
Huhuonline.com can authoritatively report that the trilateral agreement signed on Monday between the United States, Bailiwick of Jersey and Nigeria for the repatriation of $308 million Abacha loot has what some observers have described as a controversial “swallow-or-starve” clause that obligates Nigeria to repay any funds lost as a result of any new corruption or embezzlement and misappropriation to the account established to hold the returned assets.
A statement issued Tuesday by Morgan Ortagus, spokesperson of the US Department of State titled: “Return of Stolen Assets to the Nigerian People” stated categorically that to ensure that the funds were “used responsibly and for the good of the nation,” the trilateral “agreement includes mechanisms for monitoring the implementation of these projects as well as external oversight, and it requires Nigeria to repay any funds lost as a result of any new corruption or fraud to the account established to hold the returned assets.”
The three countries had on Monday at a ceremony hosted by the US Department of State in Washington DC., signed an agreement approving the repatriation of $308 million looted by former Nigerian Military Dictator General Sani Abacha to support three critical infrastructure projects in the country. The three critical projects which were previously authorized by President Buhari and the Nigerian legislature are the Second Niger Bridge, the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway and the Abuja-Kano road.
“In the 1990s, the assets were stolen by former military dictator Sani Abacha, and stashed abroad. More than 20 years later, these assets are being returned to the Nigerian people,” the statement said, adding that the funds will be used by the Nigerian Independent Sovereign Authority (NISA) for three major infrastructure projects in strategic economic zones across Nigeria.
Noting that the return of the recovered Abacha loot reflects the growing international consensus that countries must work together to ensure stolen assets are returned in a transparent and accountable manner, the statement said it was also consistent with the commitments US and Nigeria made under the principles agreed to at the 2017 Global Forum on Asset Recovery co-hosted by the United States and the United Kingdom.
The statement said the agreement was a symbol of the weight that the United States government places on the fight against corruption. It said the US “welcomes President Buhari’s personal commitment to that fight, and we will continue to support civil society and other Nigerian efforts to combat corruption at all levels. The fight against corruption is an investment in the future of Nigeria.”
