Int’l Agency Monitors FG’s Spending Of $322.5m Abacha Loot

Against allegations that the returned Abacha loot was being used for political campaigns in the 2019 elections, the United Kingdom Agency for International Department (UKAID)

sponsored programme has begun the monitoring of the Federal Government’s spending of $322.5 million looted funds recovered from former Head of State late General Sani Abacha being disbursed to the poorest Nigerians.

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Why Abacha’s $321m loot was released to Nigeria – CSOs

Executive Director of a civil society organization, Africa Network for Environment And Economic Justice, ANEEJ, Rev. David Ugolor who disclosed this while briefing journalists in Abuja, said 504 field monitors, eleven supervisors and 22 deputy supervisors drawn from members of the Nigerian Network on Stolen Asset, NNSA have been dispatched to monitor the Conditional Cash Transfer, CCT to the poorest of the poor.

Rev. Ugolor said that so far, the distribution of the funds was being done through the Transparency and Accountability in the recovery and management of looted assets project.

Following the London anti-corruption summit held in 2016 and the Global Forum on Asset Recovery (GFAR) in 2017, a total of $322.5million was returned from Switzerland to Nigeria. The returned loot is also known as ‘Abacha 2’.

He explained that the initial monitoring process was to fact-checked the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) to the poorest of the poor in 11 states, focused on 300,000 beneficiaries of the scheme.

He said 16 states have beneficiaries from the August-September round of disbursement.

According to him, “Last month, we successfully piloted monitoring arrangements “the MANTRA model” aimed at covering cash transfers to 300,000 of the poorest Nigerians and assess the impact on their lives. The pilot was in two states, Nasarawa and Cross River.

“Last week, we deployed 504 field monitors, eleven supervisors and 22 deputy supervisors drawn from members of the Nigerian Network on Stolen Asset, NNSA, and other civil society organizations across the country to fact-check the Conditional Cash Transfer, CCT, to the poorest of the poor in eleven states with the hope of covering more states in subsequent exercise. This is based on our 10 percent sample size approximated at 300,000 Cash Transfer beneficiaries.”

The returned loot fund followed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), signed by the Governments of Nigeria and Switzerland with active CSOs participation led by ANEEJ, earmarking the money specifically for the Conditional Cash Transfer Scheme  under the Government’s Social Investment Programme, monitored by the World Bank.

Specifically, the money was earmarked to be spent on the poorest of the poor Nigerians whose status were appraised and arrived at by the National Safety-Net Coordinating Office (NASSCO) under the supervision of the Office of the Vice President.

Under the MoU signed for the repatriation of the funds, it was stated clear and in unequivocal terms the modalities for the return of the money, its usage, monitoring both locally and abroad, international and local organisations that would ensure that the money is utilized for the benefit of the poor, downtrodden and the underprivileged persons in Nigeria.