The Presidency reversed itself on Wednesday, May 13th, 2020, saying that the Mambilla Power Project was not included in the list of the Federal Government projects to benefit from the recently repatriated $311m Abacha loot.

Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr Garba Shehu, said the money would be spent on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, the 2nd Niger Bridge and the Abuja-Kaduna-Kano Road only.

He stated,

The recently repatriated Sani Abacha loot will go towards three of the Federal Government’s five priority projects, excluding the Mambilla power and East-West road projects.

In an earlier statement, I had mistakenly noted that the Mambilla was one of five priority projects to benefit from the $311m Abacha loot under the Presidential Infrastructure Development Fund (PIDF) managed by the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA). That error is regretted.

Although the Mambilla and East-West expressway are regarded under the PIDF as priority projects, I have ascertained that they are exempt from the agreement signed between the Nigerian, United States and British territory of Jersey governments.

According to the document, only the second Niger Bridge, Abuja-Kaduna-Kano Expressway, and Lagos-Ibadan Expressway will benefit from the repatriated funds. The funds are domiciled in the NSIA.

All print and online media should please note of this correction and make the necessary adjustments to their previous publications on the issue.

Justin Nwosu

Justin Nwosu is the founder and publisher of Flavision. His core interest is in writing unbiased news about Nigeria in particular and Africa in general. He’s a strong adherent of investigative journalism, with a bent on exposing corruption, abuse of power and societal ills.