By Johnbosco Agbakwuru

ABUJA- THE Presidency on Wednesday said that the East-West Road and the Mambilla Power Projects were not part of the priority projects of the federal government that would benefit from the returned $311 million stolen by former Military Head of State, late Gen. Sani Abacha.

The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu stated this in a statement he issued in Abuja.

Shehu in the statement titled, “Three out of five FG priority projects to draw from Abacha loot”, said that the two projects were not part of the agreement signed between the Nigerian, the United States, and the British territory of Jersey governments.

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The statement read in part, “The recently repatriated Sani Abacha loot will go towards three of the Federal Government’s five priority projects, excluding the Mambilla power and East-West road projects.

“In an earlier statement, I had mistakenly noted that the Mambilla was one of five priority projects to benefit from the $311 million Abacha loot under the Presidential Infrastructure Development Fund (PDF) managed by the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA). That error is regretted.

“Although the Mambilla and East-West expressway is regarded under the PDF as priority projects, I have ascertained that they are exempt from the agreement signed between the Nigerian, United States, and British territory of Jersey governments.

“According to the document, only the second Niger bridge, Abuja-Kaduna-Kano expressway, and Lagos-Ibadan expressway will benefit from the repatriated funds. The funds are domiciled in the NSIA.

“All print and online media should please take note of this correction and make the necessary adjustments to their previous publications on the issue.”

Vanguard