President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday opened up on projects
that the repatriated $311m from the United States will be expended on Nigeria.
The amount is part of funds looted by the late Head of
State, Sani Abacha and stashed away in the United States.
President Buhari indicated that the funds have been
allocated for infrastructure development that is decades-overdue across
Nigeria.
A statement by the President’s spokesperson, Garba Shehu
said the money has been allocated for the completion of the second Niger
Bridge, the Lagos-Ibadan and Abuja-Kaduna-Kano expressway.
Also, part of the money will be used for the creation of
tens of thousands of Nigerian construction jobs and local skills, which can
then be useful in future projects.
The statement reads: “On Monday, May 4, 2020, some $311
million US Dollars – stolen from the citizens of Nigeria during the Abacha
regime – were safely returned to our country from the United States.
“These funds have already been allocated, and will be used
in full, for vital and decades-overdue infrastructure development: The second
Niger Bridge, the Lagos-Ibadan and Abuja-Kaduna-Kano expressways – creating tens
of thousands of Nigerian construction jobs and local skills, which can then be
useful in future projects.”
He also disclosed that part of the funds will be invested in
boosting Nigeria’s power sector.
The statement added: “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.”
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