Garba Shehu, Senior Special Assistant to the President (Media & Publicity), has said that he regrets the error in an earlier statement where he listed the Mambilla power and East-West road as part of the projects to be covered under the $311m Abacha loot. He released a fresh statement with the correct list of projects which is under the Presidential Infrastructure Development Fund (PIDF) managed by the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA).
See the statement below:
Three of five FG Priority Projects to draw from Abacha loot
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 $311 million 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 take note of this correction and make the necessary adjustments to their previous publications on the issue.
–Garba Shehu,
Senior Special Assistant to the President (Media & Publicity)