US returns to Nigeria 23 million dollars seized from dictator Sani Abacha

MADRID, 24 Ago. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The governments of Nigeria and the United States have agreed to return to the African country 23 million dollars that were seized from the dictator Sani Abacha, when he laundered those assets through British and American banks.

Nigerian Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, explained that the agreement is the result of prolonged negotiations with representatives of the United States Department of Justice and the United Kingdom's National Crime Agency, reports the Nigerian newspaper 'The Guardian'.

Malami has said that by order of the president, Muhammadu Buhari, this money will be used to finance the completion of the road between Abuja and Kano, as well as the highway between Lagos and Ibadan and other infrastructure in Niger.

In recent years, Washington and Abuja have been working together to return to Nigeria the millionaire sums that were looted by high-ranking officials of the dictatorship, including the late Sani Abacha, who took control of the country between 1993 and 1996 after the fifth military coup since its independence.

In total, some 335 million dollars have been returned to the coffers of the Nigerian State, whose use for the construction of civil infrastructure is being supervised by external agents, as part of the agreement between the parties.

For her part, the US ambassador to Nigeria, Mary Leonard, has celebrated the agreement between Washington, Abuja and London as "the result of extensive and high-level cooperation" to restore the Nigerian people.

"The United States considers the fight against corruption to be a central national security interest," said Leonard, who stressed that his country "will not be a safe haven for funds looted from any nation in the world."