SERAP to Buhari: Probe how N65bn Abacha loot was spent

THE Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project
(SERAP) yesterday urged President Muhammadu Buhari to
investigate how the $500million (about N65billion) Abacha
loot recovered from Switzerland was spent.
The Non-Government Organisation (NGO) is urging a
probe into the role of the Federal Ministry of Finance in
disbursing the funds which it said went into the 2014 and
2005 budgets for roads, electricity, education, water and
health nationwide.
SERAP, through its Executive Director, Adetokunbo
Mumuni, is making the demand based on reports the
group claimed it received from two World Bank officials,
Ann May of the Access to Information Team and a
director, Mr. Rachid Benmessaond.
In a statement, SERAP said “In the meantime, our
preliminary review of some of the documents and the letter
from Mr Rachid Benmessaoud have revealed certain facts
which raised more questions about what exactly happened
to Abacha loot: First, that Minister of Finance in a letter
dated January 9, 2005 explained to the bank that around
$500m (N65bn) of Abacha loot received from Switzerland
was programmed into and spent in the 2004 and 2005
budgets on roads, electricity, education, water and health
across all six geo-political zones of Nigeria.
“Second, the ministry explained to the bank that N18.60bn
was spent on roads; N10.83bn spent on health; N7bn
spent on education; N6.20bn spent on water; and
N21.70bn spent on electricity. It also said that part of the
funds were spent on new and ongoing investment
projects. The ministry said that relevant federal ministries
have the full details on the spending of repatriated Abacha
loot. The bank noted that there was no funds monitoring
and tracking mechanism in place to trace the spending of
Abacha loot,” the organisation also disclosed.
“Third, Mr Rachid Benmessaoud confirmed that the World
Bank played a monitoring role in a return of assets by
Switzerland but that the bank is not currently involved in
the monitoring of spending of Abacha loot that had been
returned to Nigeria in recent years. He said the bank
would be prepared to set up a mechanism to monitor the
use of Abacha loot if the Nigerian government requests the
bank’s assistance in this respect,” he said

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