Recovered Abacha loot is $26.4m, £19m – Nigeria govt

The Federal Government has disclosed that ‎as at November 30, total amount recovered from late military head of state, Gen. Sanni Abacha, stood at only $26.4 million and £19 million.

This was disclosed at the end of a meeting of the National Economic Council (NEC), presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo inside the Presidential Villa, Abuja, which has all state governors as members.

Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, who was joined by his colleagues from Sokoto, Aminu Tambuwal; Taraba, Dairus Ishaku; and the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Udo Udoma, disclosed this to State House correspondents, yesterday.

Ortom said the figure was disclosed by the Accountant-General of the Federation (AGF), Ahmed Idris, during a presentation he made to the council.

“We were briefed on updates on Abacha loots in council. The AGF reported that the Dollar account as at November 2015 ending has a balance of $ 26.389 million while the Pounds sterling account has a balance of £19, 033, 000.00. That is where we are today,” Ortom said.

Tambuwal said the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, told the council that a drop in oil prices has put a serious pressure on the country’s reserve which currently stands at $29 billion.

He said the CBN governor also briefed the council on the monetary policy currently being introduced by the apex bank.

Ishaku, on his part, said the AGF also told the council that the Excess Crude Account stood at $2.257 billion at the end of November and also put the interest on the account at $599 million.

The Sun