The Federal Government has begun channeling the recovered loot of former military ruler, Sani Abacha, and the International Development Association/World Bank credit towards programmes and policies designed to address the plight of poor and vulnerable Nigerians.
Special Adviser to the President on Social Investments, Maryam Uwais, stated this on Monday.
Mrs Uwais said that from August 2018 to the October payment cycle, the total amount disbursed from the Abacha loot was $76,538,530 and $27,099,028 from the IDA credit.
The funds, the aide said, were particularly disbursed to beneficiaries of the National Cash Transfer Programme, a component of the National Social Investment Programme.
According to her, the decision to distribute the loot to poor and vulnerable Nigerians was agreed by the Swiss government, the World Bank and the Federal Government.
The beneficiaries were selected from a National Social Register collated by the National Social Safety Net Coordinating Office.
“In December 2014, a Swiss judge gave a forfeiture order to the effect that the money ($322.5m) recovered from the family of late General Abacha would be returned to Nigeria, one of the conditions being that the World Bank would be involved in monitoring disbursements therefrom.
“Presumably, this was as a consequence to the opaqueness that surrounded the application of recovered funds,” Uwais said.
The aide also listed key achievements of the Cash Transfer Programme funded with the Abacha loot and IDA loan facility to include enrolment and payment of 620,947 beneficiaries across 29 states.
