How FG Planned To Spend $311m Abacha Loot From US

AgegePulse Magazine

On Monday, May 4, 2020, some  $311 million US Dollars - stolen from the citizens of Nigeria during the Abacha regime - were safely returned to our country from the United States.

These funds have already been allocated, and will be used in full, for vital and decades-overdue infrastructure development: The second Niger Bridge, the Lagos-Ibadan and Abuja-Kaduna-Kano expressways - creating tens of thousands of Nigerian construction jobs and local skills, which can then be useful in future projects.

Part of the funds will also be invested in the Mambilla Power Project which, when completed, will provide electricity to some three million homes - over ten million citizens - in our country.

The receipt of these stolen monies - and the hundreds of millions more that have already been returned from the United Kingdom and Switzerland - are an opportunity for the development of our nation, made far harder for those decades the country was robbed of these funds.

Indeed, previous monies returned last year from Switzerland - some $320 million US dollars - are already being used for the government’s free school feeding scheme, a stipend for millions of disadvantaged citizens, and grain grants for those in severe food hardship.

Without these funds, the fight against Covid-19 would be even tougher.

The latest return is a testament to the growing and deepening relationship between the government of Nigeria and the government of the United States.

Without the cooperation both from the UK Government, the US Executive branch and US Congress, we would not have achieved the return of these funds at all.

For years many countries deemed successive Nigerian administrations as too corrupt, too venal and too likely to squander and re-steal the stolen monies - so they did not return the funds.

Today, US, UK and other jurisdictions have found the partnership with the nation of Nigeria they can finally trust.

The Buhari Administration is committed to - and is enacting - total and zero tolerance to corruption in politics and public administration.

The days when government was seen and used by the political class as their personal ATM to empty are over.

The time of better governance and clean hands in the affairs of state is here to stay.

By Femi Adesina

Minimum Wage: NLC suspends planned nationwide strike

AgegePulse Magazine

November 6, 2018Azeezat Adedigba

The Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) has called off the nationwide industrial action initially scheduled to commence on November 6 to further press for workers’ demand for new national minimum wage.


The President of the NLC, Ayuba Wabba, said this on Monday night in Abuja while addressing journalists at the end of a meeting of the tripartite committee set up by government to negotiate labour’s demand.

Organised labour had threatened to commence nationwide strike on November 6 should government fail to accede to its N30,000 minimum wage demand. The federal government had offered to pay N24,000 while some state governments are even offering less.

But briefing journalists on Monday night, Mr. Wabba said, “The tripartite negotiating committee this evening concluded its assignment. Agreement has been reached and also documents have been signed. The report will be submitted to Mr. President tomorrow by 4:15pm.

“Therefore, as organised labour, we want to use this medium to thank all the tripartite partners for their understanding and importantly for concluding this very national assignment.

“And having reached this position, and also the fact that the assignment has been concluded, organised labour also decided that the proposed industrial action is hereby suspended.

“Therefore, we thought this should be communicated appropriately without also any delusion or missing information.

“As the chairperson have said, mutual agreements have been reached and this will be make public tomorrow and we must appreciate the roles that organised private sectors have actually demonstrated and the attitude brought to this process and to members of the tripartite negotiating team.”

The Chairperson, Tripartite Committee, Amma Pepple, corroborated Mr Wabba’s claim, saying her committee had reached a truce and concluded its assignment.


“We are going to present our report to Mr President tomorrow at 4:15pm and he will reveal the figure that we have recommended,” she said.

Meanwhile, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, commended members of the committee for their time and commitment to the long and tortuous negotiation processes.

“I am confident that government will give expeditious consideration of the report tomorrow by Mr President and very soon the processes will be put in place to truly actualise your recommendations so that the status of our working populace will be enhanced and they would receive appropriate and commensurate payments for the services they offer to our nation and to the different sectors of our economy,” he said.

Government and labour had been at loggerheads over the demand for a new minimum wage. Labour says the minimum wage of N18,000 is paltry and no longer acceptable.

More to come…

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