 |
| Fmr Military Head Of State, Late Gen. Sani Abacha |
Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has
“received several documents from the World Bank totaling over 700 pages on
information on the spending of recovered assets stolen by the late General
Abacha, with some of the documents suggesting that Abacha loot was spent on
roads, electricity, education, health and water.”
This information was disclosed by SERAP executive director
Adetokunbo Mumuni in a statement dated 29 November 2015.
The organisation said, “SERAP can confirm that last week we
received several documents from Ann May of the Access to Information Team of
the World Bank following our Access to Information Request to the Bank. We also
received a letter dated 24 November 2015 from Mr Rachid Benmessaoud, Director
of the World Bank in Africa.”
“In total, SERAP has received over 700 pages of documents, which
we are now closely studying and scrutinising with a view to discovering whether
the documents contain details that Nigerians would like to see and whether the
information correspond to the facts on the ground. After this analysis, we will
respond to the Bank and consider our options, including filing an appeal before
the Bank’s Access to Information Appeals Board and taking other appropriate
legal actions nationally and internationally to discover what exactly happened
to Abacha recovered loot,” the organisation said.
The organisation said that “In the meantime our preliminary
review of some of the documents and the letter from Mr Rachid Benmessaoud have
revealed certain facts which raise more questions about what exactly happened
to Abacha loot: First, that Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala as Minister of Finance in a
letter dated 9 January 2005 explained to the Bank that around $500m (N65bn) of
Abacha loot received from Switzerland was programmed into and spent in the 2004
and 2005 budgets on roads, electricity, education, water and health across all
6 geo-political zones of Nigeria.”
“Second, Mrs Iweala explained to the Bank that N18.60bn was
spent on roads; N10.83bn spent on health; N7bn spent on education; N6.20bn
spent on water; and N21.70bn spent on electricity. She also said that part of
the funds were spent on new and ongoing investment projects. Mrs Iweala said
that relevant federal ministries have the full details on the spending of
repatriated Abacha loot. The Bank noted that there was no funds monitoring and
tracking mechanism in place to trace the spending of Abacha loot,” the
organisation also disclosed.
“Third, Mr Rachid Benmessaoud confirmed that the World Bank
played a monitoring role in a return of assets by Switzerland but that the Bank
is not currently involved in the monitoring of spending of Abacha loot that
have been returned to Nigeria in recent years. He said that the Bank would be
prepared to set up a mechanism to monitor the use of Abacha loot if the
Nigerian government request the Bank’s assistance in this respect.”
“Given Mrs Okonjo-Iweala’s involvement in the spending of
Abacha loot, SERAP calls on President Muhammadu Buhari to urgently probe the
role of the Ministry of Finance and relevant federal ministries at the time in
the spending of Abacha loot particularly given the strong allegations of
mismanagement that characterised the use of the funds,” the organisation said.
“Although Mrs Okonjo-Iweala said that Abacha loot was spent
in the 2004 and 2005 budgets on roads, electricity, education, water and health
across all 6 geo-political zones of Nigeria, there is no evidence of such
projects as millions of Nigerians continue to travel on dead roads, while they
continue to lack access to adequate electricity supply, water, health and
quality education.Therefore, President Buhari can no longer continue to remain
silent on this issue of public interest if Nigerians are to continue to trust
him in his fight against corruption,” the organisation also said.
It would be recalled that in a letter dated 15 October 2015
and signed by Ann May of the Access to Information Team, the Bank said that “In
response to your request under AI3982, we would like to inform you that we are
still considering your request and need additional time to provide you with a
more comprehensive response.”
The letter reads in part “In most cases, we will be able to
respond within twenty (20) working days from receipt of a request for
information. However, we may need additional time in special circumstances, for
example, if the request is complex or voluminous or if it requires further
review by or consultation with internal World Bank units, external parties, the
Access to Information Committee, or the World Bank’s Board of Executive
Directors.”
Earlier, SERAP had on 21 September 2015 sent an access to
information request to Jim Yong Kim, President, World Bank Group urging him to
“exercise the Bank’s prerogative to release documents relating to spending of
recovered assets stolen by Late General Sani Abacha”.
The group also asked Mr Yong Kim to “disclose information
about the Bank’s role in the implementation of any projects funded by the
recovered assets and any other on-going repatriation initiatives on Nigeria
with which the Bank is engaged.”
The request was “pursuant to the World Bank’s Access to
Information Policy (The Policy), approved by the Board on June 30 205. SERAP
notes that one of the Policy’s guiding principles is to maximize access to
information. There is also clear public interest in Nigerians knowing about the
Bank’s supervisory role and specifically its involvement in the implementation
of projects on which repatriated funds were spent.”
Source: Vanguard
No comments:
Post a Comment