Closed to $1bn was stolen under Abacha's regime, says Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari 

President Muhammadu Buhari has said close to $1bn was stolen under the regime of former head of states, late Gen. Sani Abacha in the 1990s.”

In an article published in Newsweek, a United States - based magazine, Buhari expressed appreciation to the “friendly nations” that returned the stolen funds.


Though the President did not mention Abacha by name, it was apparent he was referring to the deceased dictator.

Buhari, in his article, stated that the country could move forward with road, rail and power station construction, “partly under own resources, thanks to close to $1bn of funds stolen from the people of Nigeria under a previous, undemocratic junta in the 1990s that have now been returned to our country from the US, UK and Switzerland.”



The President added, “That the friendly nations agreed to return the funds after so long is a testament to the fact that, with our governance reforms, Nigeria is rightly seen as an increasingly stable and beneficial place to transact and invest.”