FORMER Finance Minister and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, yesterday shed light on how the $322 million recovered from family of the late General Sani Abacha was used.
She said the money was deployed for military operations in the North-East.
In a statement issued in Abuja yesterday, the former minister noted that she opted for development projects but was told that no development takes place in a crisis condition.
“The central responsibility of the minister of Finance is to find sources of funding for the financing of approved national priorities such as security, job creation and infrastructure.
“A lot of the criticism was directed at the Federal Ministry of Finance, which was accused of not doing enough to find funds for the operations…
“It was about this time, that new Abacha funds, of about $322 million, were returned with another $700 million still expected. (This is not to be confused with the Abacha funds returned between 2005 and 2006 under the Obasanjo administration whose use for developmental purposes was monitored by the World Bank).
“Former President Jonathan set up a committee comprising of the former Minister of Justice, former NSA and the former Minister of Finance to determine how best to use the returned and expected funds for development…
“The attempt to link Okonjo-Iweala with any misuse of these funds for any purpose other than security is totally false and cannot stand.”
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