The United Kingdom Government and the Federal Government of Nigeria on Tuesday sealed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the repatriation of the sum of £4.2 million seized from former Delta State Governor, Chief James Ibori, and some of his associates.
Ibori had earlier been jailed on corruption charges in the United Kingdom.
Nigeria’s Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr Abubakar Malami (SAN), who signed on behalf of Nigeria, described the MoU signing as “another major milestone in our determined quest as a nation to attain full recovery of all looted assets, prevent abuse of recovered assets and also to ensure optimal utilization of such recovered assets for the benefit of our deserving citizens”.
In her remarks, the British High Commissioner, Catriona Laing, said that the returned money would help to fund development of infrastructure in Nigeria with the attendant benefits to the economy and the citizens.
The envoy said that all things being equal, the £4.2 million would be made available to Nigeria “in the next couple of days”.
