PDP asks N/Assembly to appropriate $311m repatriated fund

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has demanded that the recently repatriated $311millon should be surrendered to the National Assembly for proper statutory appropriation.

The party also urged Nigerians to resist “schemes by the cabal” to prevent them from demanding explanations on the alleged looting of repatriated funds.

The party, in a statement yesterday by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, claimed that it uncovered “fresh plots by the cabal in the Presidency and the All Progressives Congress (APC) to use fake subheads and duplicated projects as a ploy to re-loot.”

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The party alleged that the cabal had perfected the use of fake subheads as nomenclatures to mislead those who repatriated the fund and “pave way for the frittering of the money to their private pockets as they had done with earlier repatriated funds.”

The PDP claimed that part of the strategies of the cabal was to hype hazy subheads and stampede the dissipation of the funds without the statutory approval of the National Assembly, which would enable them to “muddle up accountability processes, conceal their fraud and divert the attention of the unsuspecting public from the scam.

Funds to be used for key projects – Presidency

On Monday, the presidency had said that the  funds have already been allocated, and will be used in full, for vital and decades-overdue infrastructure development: The second Niger Bridge, the Lagos-Ibadan and Abuja-Kaduna-Kano expressways – creating tens of thousands of Nigerian construction jobs and local skills, which can then be useful in future projects.

Through a statement by a presidential spokesperson, Garba Shehu, said “ Part of the funds will also be invested in the Mambilla Power Project which, when completed, will provide electricity to some three million homes – over ten million citizens – in our country.”

“Indeed, previous monies returned last year from Switzerland – some $320 million US dollars – are already being used for the government’s free school feeding scheme, a stipend for millions of disadvantaged citizens, and grain grants for those in severe food hardship.”