THE federal government on Monday retrieved from and through the assistance of the government of the United States of America $311 million US Dollars – stolen from the Nigeria’s treasury during the military junta of General Sani Abacha.
The Senior Special Assistant to the President (Media & Publicity), Garba Shehu disclosed in a statement that these funds have already been allocated, and will be used in full, for vital and decades-overdue infrastructure development.
According to him, the second Niger Bridge, the Lagos-Ibadan and Abuja-Kaduna-Kano expressways are the already mapped out projects for the fund as a means of creating tens of thousands of Nigerian construction jobs and local skills, which can then be useful in future projects.
Federal government also stated that part of the funds will also be invested in the Mambilla Power Project which, when completed, will provide electricity to some three million homes – over ten million citizens – in our country.
“The receipt of these stolen monies – and the hundreds of millions more that have already been returned from the United Kingdom and Switzerland – are an opportunity for the development of our nation, made far harder for those decades the country was robbed of these funds.
“Indeed, previous monies returned last year from Switzerland – some $320 million US dollars – are already being used for the government’s free school feeding scheme, a stipend for millions of disadvantaged citizens, and grain grants for those in severe food hardship”, he stated.