Probe how N65bn Abacha loot was spent SERAP tells Buhari

 THE Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) yesterday urged President Muhammadu Buhari to investigate how the $500million (about N65billion) Abacha loot recovered from Switzerland was spent.

The Non-Government Organisation (NGO) is urging a probe into the role of the Federal Ministry of Finance in disbursing the funds which it said went into the 2014 and 2005 budgets for roads, electricity, education, water and health nationwide.

SERAP, through its Executive Director, Adetokunbo Mumuni, is making the demand based on reports the group claimed it received from two World Bank officials, Ann May of the Access to Information Team and a director, Mr. Rachid Benmessaond.

In a statement, SERAP said “In the meantime, our preliminary review of some of the documents and the letter from Mr Rachid Benmessaoud have revealed certain facts which raised more questions about what exactly happened to Abacha loot: First, that Minister of Finance in a letter dated January 9, 2005 explained to the bank that around $500m (N65bn) of Abacha loot received from Switzerland was programmed into and spent in the 2004 and 2005 budgets on roads, electricity, education, water and health across all six geo-political zones of Nigeria.

“Second, the ministry explained to the bank that N18.60bn was spent on roads; N10.83bn spent on health; N7bn spent on education; N6.20bn spent on water; and N21.70bn spent on electricity. It also said that part of the funds were spent on new and ongoing investment projects. The ministry said that relevant federal ministries have the full details on the spending of repatriated Abacha loot. The bank noted that there was no funds monitoring and tracking mechanism in place to trace the spending of Abacha loot,” the organisation also disclosed.

“Third, Mr Rachid Benmessaoud confirmed that the World Bank played a monitoring role in a return of assets by Switzerland but that the bank is not currently involved in the monitoring of spending of Abacha loot that had been returned to Nigeria in recent years. He said the bank would be prepared to set up a mechanism to monitor the use of Abacha loot if the Nigerian government requests the bank’s assistance in this respect,” he said