President Muhammadu Buhari says about $1 billion was “stolen under a previous, undemocratic junta in the 1990s.”
In an article published in US-based magazine, Newsweek, Buhari thanked the “friendly nations” that returned the stolen funds.
Buhari did not mention the late military dictator, Sani Abacha, by name. He had severally in the past spoken well of Abacha.
The president’s latest remarks come weeks after receiving $311 million in repatriated Abacha loot from the United States and the Bailiwick of Jersey.
According to the Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, the recovered money would be used in expediting the construction of the Lagos-Ibadan expressway, Abuja-Kano road, and the Second Niger Bridge.
Nigeria had previously recovered funds looted by Abacha from the UK and Switzerland.
In the article, Buhari said the country could move forward with road, rail and power station construction, “partly under own resources, thanks to close to $1bn of funds stolen from the people of Nigeria under a previous, undemocratic junta in the 1990s that have now been returned to our country from the US, UK and Switzerland.”
He added, “That the friendly nations agreed to return the funds after so long is a testament to the fact that, with our governance reforms, Nigeria is rightly seen as an increasingly stable and beneficial place to transact and invest.”
The president said although no country or continent has a permanent monopoly in manufacturing jobs, Africa is positioned to seize opportunities that would benefit the world.
