President Muhammadu Buhari’s special adviser on Social Investments, Maryam Uwais has disclosed that General Sani Abacha’s loot which was recently recovered was spent on lifting Nigerians out of poverty.
Uwais who disclosed this at a two-day experts’ training and advocacy on tracing and recovery of illicit funds and assets in Port Harcourt on Monday, said the total cumulative amount disbursed from the Abacha loot between August/September 2018 and September/October payment 2019 from the International Development Association (IDA) credit, was $76,538,530 and $27,099,028.
“The funds are specifically being disbursed to beneficiaries of the national cash transfer programme (a component of the National Social Investment Programme N-SIP).
“The gesture is positively changing the fortunes of many Nigerians who find themselves below the poverty line, based on the data collated in the communities and hosted on the national social register” she said.
Insisting that the recovered funds was well utilized and not looted as was the case in the past, Uwais added that the decision to disburse the recovered Abacha loot to poor Nigerians was reached by by the Swiss government, the World Bank and the federal government.
“In December 2014, a Swiss judge gave a forfeiture order to the effect that monies (322.5 million dollars) recovered from the family of the late General Abacha would be returned to Nigeria.
“One of the conditions being that, the World Bank would be involved in monitoring disbursements there from,” she added.
