Nigeria and the United States government have reached an agreement on the return of over $23 million of Abacha loot.
Sani Abacha is a late Nigerian military dictator who ruled from 1993 to 1998, looted the country dry and stashed the illicit wealth in foreign banks.
A chunk of that loot, in millions of dollars, has been repatriated to Nigeria periodically.
Today’s repatriation agreement between Nigeria and the United States, was signed in the office of the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami.
While Malami signed on behalf of the Nigerian government, the U.S Ambassador to Nigeria, Mary Beth Leonard, signed on behalf of the U.S government.
According to Malami, the fund when returned, will be invested in three ongoing projects by the Federal Government, including the ongoing Abuja-Kaduna road and the 2nd Niger Bridge.
ChannelsTV reports that Nigeria has in the past recovered several other tranches of the Abacha loot.
In 2020, the US and Jersey also agreed to return over $308 million in confiscated funds to Nigeria.
In 2006, about $723 million in Abacha loot was returned to Nigeria from Switzerland.