The Federal Government has picked a civil society organization, CLEEN Foundation, to monitor the spending of the last tranche of $311m repatriated funds looted by the late Head of State, Gen. Sani Abacha, the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation said on Thursday.
The money, which was repatriated in February this year, was said to have been earmarked for three landmark projects – the 2nd Niger Bridge, the Abuja-Kano Expressway, and the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.
A statement by the Special Assistant to the AGF, Dr Umar Gwandu, stated that “the purpose of the involvement of the CSO was to increase transparency in the management of recovered funds”.
He said the approval of CLEEN Foundation to carry out the monitoring of the spending of the fund came after a presentation made by the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), on the competitive bidding process involving 17 Nigerian and international civil society and business organizations.
The statement added, “The Federal Executive Council approved the award of the consultancy monitoring of the projects; 2nd Niger Bridge, Abuja to Kano Expressway and Lagos to Ibadan Expressway to CLEEN Foundation, a Nigeria-based CSO.
“The selection process included the participation of the other two countries that signed the tripartite agreement for the return of the Abacha three stolen assets; United States of America and the Bailiwick of Jersey.
This engagement is in line with President Buhari’s commitment to open government and the principles of the Global Forum on Asset Recovery, as well as the UN Convention Against Corruption provisions on asset recovery.”
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