The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has
“received several documents from the World Bank totalling 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 November 29, 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. Okonjo-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.
Okonjo-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 requests 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 October 15, 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 September 21, 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.”
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