Utilization of Repatriated Abacha Loot

Results of the Field Monitoring Exercise

Report Prepared by the World Bank with Cooperation from the Federal Ministry of Finance
December 2006

Introduction

On February 7, 2005 the Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland authorized the repatriation by Switzerland to Nigeria of funds deposited by the Abacha family in Switzerland. Switzerland is the first country to repatriate to Nigeria funds looted by earlier military administrations. The actual repatriation took place in two tranches – in September and November of 2005 (US$461.3 mn) and (mostly) in the 1 st quarter of 2006 ($44.1 mn). The total amount received by the Federal Government of Nigeria was equivalent to $505.5 mn.

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	Appendix 4-1: List of Project - Roads and Water(MS Excel 33 kb)
	Appendix 4-2: List of Projects - Education (MS Excel 676 kb)
	Appendix 4-3: List of Projects - Power and Health (MS Excel 261 kb)
	Appendix 5: List of Projects Selected for Monitoring (MS Excel 90 kb)

As a part of repatriation process, the Nigerian and Swiss Governments, and the World Bank, agreed for a study to be carried out to analyze the use of the repatriated funds, particularly in terms of the contribution for these funds to the NEEDS as part of a review of public expenditures to be carried out by Nigeria and the Bank under the Country Partnership Strategy. This report is prepared in line with those earlier agreements. The report objective was to verify that additional budget resources went to the agreed development projects and were effectively utilized for achieving the government’s development goals. The report has not sought to substitute for a regular government audit of its budget spending.

The monitoring and analysis of repatriated fund utilization was undertaken at two levels: a) macro – through analysis of general budget expenditure trends, and b) micro – through a field survey of randomly selected projects, funded under this budget program.

Utilization of Funds in the Government Capital Budgets

An analysis of actual federal budget spending in five MDG sectors for 2003-05 suggests a considerable increase in the 2004 capital expenditure relative to its 2003 level (Figure 1). A significant portion of this increase could be attributed to additional funds, made available under the repatriation program. Moreover, the trend of rapid expansion in budget spending in these sectors was sustained in 2005. Spending increased in all five sectors.

The following Table presents the data on actual allocation of recovered funds across the five sectors, which utilized repatriated Abacha funds, and main programs within these sectors. The data was compiled based on the full list of projects covered by the program. The Table allows a comparison with the preliminary information on sectoral allocation of funds, as provided in the FMF’s letter of January 9, 2005.

Utilization of Repatriated Abacha Funds