Nigeria has received a sum of $322 million stolen by former president Sani Abacha after signing a memorandum of understanding with Switzerland last month.
The money which has been deposited in a special account in the central bank has been earmarked for the government’s social programme National Social Safety Nets Project, announced the Minister of Finance Kemi Adeosun.
The minister was speaking at a joint press briefing with the central bank governor following a meeting with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.
5/ The sum of US$322,515,931.83 Abacha funds recovered from the Swiss Government and deposited into a special account in @cenbank, has been earmarked for the National Social Safety Nets programme of the Government @NSIP_NG.
— Kemi Adeosun (@HMKemiAdeosun) April 22, 2018
The National Social Safety Nets Project is designed to transfer wealth to poor and vulnerable households in the country through job creation, school feeding programme and other social intervention mechanisms launched by the government.
The project is supervised by the World Bank which has committed $500 million towards its implementation. The entire cost of the project is $1.8 billion.
The recovered money forms part of President Buhari’s campaign promise to reclaim all stolen funds and deposit them in the national treasury.
