Abacha loot III: FG opens technical bid for implementation monitoring

To ensure transparency and accountability, the Federal Government, through the Federal Ministry of Justice, on Thursday, opened technical bids for Consultancy Service to monitor the implementation of Abacha loot 111.

The Consultancy Service is to undertake the monitoring of the implementation of the tripartite agreement on the sharing, transfer, disposition, repatriation and management of the Abacha 111 forfeited Assets.

The Head, Asset Recovery and Management Unit, in the Ministry of Justice, Ladidi Mohammed, who declared open the bidding process said, the process is in tandem with the Asset Return Agreement of February 3, 2020, by the Nigeria government, the United State of America and the Bailiwick of Jersey.

According to her, “This agreement is based on international law and cooperation measures that set out the procedures for the repatriation, transfer, disposition and management of the assets.

“The government is committed to support and assist in expediting the construction of the three major infrastructure projects across Nigeria in the agreement. The projects are the Lagos – Ibadan Expressway, Abuja – Kano Road, and the Second Niger Bridge,’’ she explained.

She said to ensure transparency in the management of the returned assets, the Federal Government involved Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in the monitoring team to oversee the implementation of the projects and report regularly on progress made to the public.

It would be recalled that the process for the engagement of the monitoring team commenced with advertisements placed in two national dailies on March 4 and a Notice of Extension on April 17, the Federal Tender Journal March 9 and 23 and the Economist March 14, 2020.

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The advertisements were also on the website of the Federal Ministry of Justice, “www.justice.gov.ng.”

Nasiru Bello, a representative of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) while opening the bids noted that there were 16 organisations that submitted entries for the technical bid.

He added that, out of the 16 bidders, 12 of them submitted their biddings in hard copies, while 4 submitted via e-mail, adding the bids will be handed over to the Evaluation Committee to ensure that due processes are followed.

“The Due Process Mechanism is to establish and sustain an open, transparent and competitive procurement system that is integrity driven,” he said.

Recall that the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), had on May 4, 2020, confirmed the receipt of $311,797,866.11 million of the Abacha assets repatriated from the U.S. and the Bailiwick of Jersey.

The minister noted that the amount increased from over $308 million mentioned in the press release issued in February to 311,797,866.11 million dollars following the accrued interest from February 3 to April 28, 2020, when the fund was transferred to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

“These recoveries are transparently and judiciously deployed in supporting indigent Nigerians as specified in the agreement signed with Switzerland and the World Bank.”

“In line with the 2020 Asset Return Agreement, the fund has been transferred to a Central Bank of Nigeria Asset Recovery designated account and would be paid to the National Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) within the next fourteen days.

“The NSIA is responsible for the management and execution of the projects to which the funds will be applied’’.

It would be recalled that the recovered funds were laundered through the US banking system and then held in bank accounts in the Bailiwick of Jersey.

NIGERIAN TRIBUNE