A tiny fraction of the laundered funds have been returned to Nigeria while the bulk remained in foreign banks. Last year, the United States repatriated $311m of the loot to Nigeria and said there was a separate $319m Abacha loot in the United Kingdom and France. The mammoth nature of the looted funds made the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN, to refer to the laundered monies as “assets”. But speaking on Monday, the ICPC spokesperson said Nigeria and other African countries won’t need to borrow loans outside the continent if all the looted funds were repatriated. “A case in point is the Abacha loot, the World Bank gave a very stringent condition but the crux of the matter is that it is our funds.

Source: Punch July 12, 2021 10:29 UTC