The Federal Government disbursed $103,637,559 (equivalent of N320,609,455,190) for the Social Investment Programmes from August 2018 to October 2019.
A statement yesterday from the National Social Investment Office (NSIO) signed by Justice Tienabeso Bibiye, quoted Maryam Uwais, the Special Adviser to the President on Social Investments to have stated this at a workshop in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
Uwais said the government, through the National Social Investment Office NSIO, had been channelling the recovered “Abacha loots” and the International Development Association IDA/World Bank credit towards programmes and policies designed to address the plight of poor and vulnerable Nigerians.
She said: “From the August/Sept 2018 to the Sept/Oct payment cycle, the total cumulative value so far disbursed from the Abacha Loot is $76,538,530, and $27,099,028 from the IDA credit.
“The decision to distribute the Abacha loot and IDA funds to poor and vulnerable citizens, who are mine from a National Social Register collated by the National Social Safety Net Coordinating Office NASSCO, was reached by the Swiss Government, the World Bank and the Federal Government of Nigeria, to ensure that the funds are well utilized and not diverted to private pockets as was the case in the past.”
“In December 2014, a Swiss Judge gave a forfeiture order to the effect that monies ($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”.
