Former Head of State General Sani Abacha is trending again on social media platforms for the infamous ‘Abacha loot’.
The Abacha loot is an indeterminate amount of money allegedly stolen from the country and in banks and countries around the world by the former military dictator.
These loots have been repatriated from most countries in Europe and America since Abacha's death in 1998.
According to United States Ambassador to Nigeria, Mary Leonard, the amount of money stolen by Abacha and his cronies which have been repatriated to Nigeria by the U.S has hit over $334.7 million.
Many Nigerians humorously wondered how Abacha was able to stash up so much in foreign countries.
One of the major conditions for repatriating the looted assets is that the federal government must deploy the funds in funding infrastructure.
Checks by The Nation revealed that the recovered monies were principally stashed away in four major countries:
1. Switzerland
2. Jersey Island (UK)
3. United States
4. Liechtenstein
Some findings about the recovered monies are as follow:
During the Abdulsalami era in 1999, $750 million was recovered.
Under the Obasanjo administration, $1.2 billion was recovered in 2002; $149 million from Jersey Island, UK in 2003; $500 million recovered in 2004 from Switzerland and another $458 recovered in 2005 from Switzerland.
During the Jonathan administration, $1 billion was recovered in 2012 and $380 million in 2015, both tranches from Switzerland.
The Jonathan administration also recovered $227 million from Liechtenstein in 2014 and $48 million from the United States the same year.
The administration of Buhari recovered $322 million from Switzerland in 2017 and $311 million from Jersey Island, United Kingdom in February 2020
In August 2022, the Federal Government signed a fresh agreement with the U.S. government for the return of over $23 million looted by Abacha.
Source: The Nation Newspaper
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