FORMER finance minister Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has confirmed that she approved the transfer of $322m Abacha loot to ex-national security adviser Retired Colonel Sambo Dasuki to prosecute the fight against Boko Haram.  

Over the last week, it has emerged that substantial amounts of money voted towards the fight against Boko Haram were diverted to private bank accounts. It has now emerged that the money recovered from the former military dictator General Sani Abacha by the government of Switzerland was handed to the Nigerian government and handed over to the military. 

According to Dr Okonjo-Iweala the $322 handed over to Col Dasuki was a loan lent to the military to purchase weapons to fight the insurgency. Of late, Dr Okonjo-Iweala has been under attack, mainly from the Edo State governor Adams Oshiomhole for allowing expenditure without authorisation.

Paul Nwabuikwu, Dr Okonjo-Iweala's spokesman, said: “Some new Abacha funds of about $322m were returned with another $700m still expected to be returned. Former president Dr Goodluck Jonathan set up a committee comprising the former minister of justice, the former national security adviser and the former minister of finance to determine how best to use both the returned and expected funds for development.”

Dr Okonjo-Iweala added: "The national security adviser made a case for using the returned funds for urgent security operations since, he noted, there cannot be any development without peace and security. Based on this, a decision was taken to deploy about $322m for the military operations, while the expected $700m would be applied for development programmes as originally conceived.”

She stated that based on the urgency of the national security adviser's memo, she requested that President Jonathan approve the transfer of the requested amount to Col Dasuki's office for the specified purposes. In her memo, Dr Okonjo-Iweala insisted that only a part, not the entire Abacha funds, would be spent on the arms and the rest would be invested in developmental projects, while the money was to be treated as borrowed funds which would be paid back as soon as possible.

Furthermore, Dr Okonjo-Iweala insisted that Col Dasuki's office was to account for the spending to the president who was the commander-in-chief, given the fact that the minister of finance is not part of the security architecture and does not participate in the Security Council. In 2014, there were complaints by the military hierarchy to President Jonathan about the inadequacy of funds to fight the anti-terror war, resulting in Boko Haram making gains and taking territory.

A lot of the criticism was directed at the Federal Ministry of Finance under Dr Okonjo-Iweala which was accused of not doing enough to find funds for the operations. It was to address this matter that the minister advised that the Abacha loot be handed over to the military.