Recovered stolen funds used for national projects – Malami

The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, said on Monday that recovered looted funds were used for the execution of projects across the country.

The President Muhammadu Buhari administration had funds running into several billions of Naira stolen by former public officials including the late former Head of State, Gen. Sani Abacha and ex-governor of Delta State, James Ibori, among others.

Malami, who stated this when he featured in programme on Radio Kano, said Nigerians had seen proof that the funds were used to fund various projects including the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Kano-Abuja Highway and Second Niger Bridge, among others.

He said: “The monies recovered from looted assets, especially those that were kept abroad, were used judiciously and are all visible to Nigerians.

“Some of the projects that were carried out from that money include the Kano-Abuja Highway, the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Second Niger Bridge which was abandoned many years ago, and other projects like school feeding programmes, the agricultural input support, N-Power, and many others.

READ ALSO: Over $700m stolen funds returned to Nigeria in last four years —Malami

“The fight against corruption has recorded tremendous success also. This administration did not even favour even members of its cabinet whenever found guilty. Many people were convicted on several corruption allegations and nobody intervened to favour or influence the process.

“This has really helped in the recovery of many looted assets and that is what we are using in many of our capital projects.

“It equally helped in the fight against insecurity because that past administration has looted huge amount of money that was meant for the fight against terrorism. But we came and cleared all their mess. So, we did what they were not able to do in one year.

“At the time we came, there were over 17 local government areas in the North-East that were under the control of the Boko Haram terrorists. There were attacks everywhere in the region. But we were able to recover the 17 LGAs and restore peace, build houses for IDPs and many more.”

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