The United States of America (USA) government announced plan to return $52.88m (approximately N81.8bn at exchange rate of N1547/$) recovered Galactica assets, linked to a former Minister of Petroleum Diezani Alison-Madueke to Nigeria.
Mrs Alison-Madueke, aged 64, who also served as president of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), was a key figure in the Nigerian government between 2010 and 2015.
The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice Lateef Fagbemi disclosed this at the formal signing ceremony of the asset agreement between Nigeria and the United States of America in Abuja on Friday.
Delivering his remarks Fagbemi explained that $50m of the recovered assets will be deployed through the World Bank to the development of the rural electrification project and the remaining $2m will be deployed to the International Institute of Justice to expand the Justice system and also counter corruption.
The minister added that the balance of $2.88 million will be disbursed as a grant by Nigeria to the International Institute for Justice (IIJ) to support “the Rule of Law and Counter-Terrorism Project,” through counter-terrorism capacity building for criminal justice sector practitioners in East, West, and North Africa.
While commending the United States for their cooperation towards the recovery, he assured that measures have been put in place to ensure transparency in the utilisation of the funds.
“I would like to express our gratitude to the United States Government, for their steadfast support and cooperation in this endeavour,” Fagbemi said
“Your commitment to justice and the rule of law has been instrumental in making this agreement a reality.
“However, I implore you to continue to demonstrate the usual cooperation and understanding in other pending cases of repatriation, so that the Agreements in relation thereto can be concluded as soon as possible, as Nigeria is in dire need of these refunds.”
He said the event is also a significant effort by President Bola Tinubu to address the issue of corruption.
Meanwhile, in his remarks, the United States Ambassador to Nigeria Richard Mills called for the monitoring and effectively utilizing the recovered assets by the Ministry of Justice to benefit Nigerians.