By Zainab Yusuf (Foreign Affairs Editor)
The British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Ms. Catriona Laing, has said that the United Kingdom Government will return a whopping £4.2m to Nigeria, being money allegedly recovered from the family members and friends of the former governor of Delta State, Chief James Onanefe Ibori.
The British envoy gave the assurance on Tuesday when she spoke at an event for the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between her country and Nigeria.
Laing stated that the funds were part of the monies so far recovered by the British government from friends, associates, and family members of Ibori. She however added that the money was the first tranche of such funds to be returned to Nigeria.
The High Commissioner disclosed that Ibori's case had been quite complicated to the British government, but that the actual amount involved in the case was still being worked on.
She noted the Ibori case was complicated and the United Kingdom authorities were still working on the total actual amount involved in the case. Laing assured that all financial asset recoveries linked to Ibori in the case would definitely be made available to Nigeria by the UK authorities.
Nigeria's own part of the MOU was signed at the ceremony by the Attorney General and Justice Minister, Abubakar Malami. The minister said that President Muhammadu Buhari had already given a directive that the returned loot be used for the completion of the second Niger Bridge, the Lagos-Ibadan expressway, and the Abuja-Kano expressway projects.
More cash recoveries linked to the former governor, Chief James Ibori, have been disclosed to Nigeria by the government of the United Kingdom.
Ibori, an influential and leading political figure in Delta state, South-South Nigeria, was a former governor of the state between 1999 and 2007. NNL.
