OPEN ALLIANCE ENGAGES ANEEJ ON ABACHA LOOT UTILISATION
Many years before the return of stolen Nigerian monies stashed in foreign countries, ANEEJ had been at the forefront of the campaign. In 2004, ANEEJ coordinated civil society organisations to monitor how the Abacha loot, $500million, returned from Switzerland was spent. That activity culminated in a report, SHADOW REPORT ON THE PEMFAR MONITORING EXERCISE here:
https://www.publiceye.ch/fileadmin/files/documents/Potentatengelder/Report_Abacha.pdf,
authored by Reverend David Ugolor, Apollos Nwafor, and John H. Nardine for the Nigerian Network on Stolen Assets, NNSA. The report made recommendations along two fronts – to the Federal government and to CSOs. Inter alia, it asked the Federal government to empower end-users as much as possible by instituting a standard procedure of thorough consultations that fully enfranchise target communities into project design. To the CSOs the Shadow Report recommended that Civil Society pursue a two-pronged strategy: a short-term role of becoming integrated in monitoring budget expenditures on development priorities; and the long-term goal of pressing for governments’ own enhanced capacity to self-monitor and regulate budget spending to combat corruption.
With the return of a further $322.5million from Switzerland, ANEEJ is putting it mouth where its basic instincts lie, with the MANTRA Project – Monitoring of Recovered Assets Through Transparency and Accountability.
On Friday, the 24th of August, the Open Alliance http://openalliance.ng/sample-page/, will engage ANEEJ to discuss the whys and wherefores relating to the proper and accountable utilization of the recently returned Abacha loot. Please do join in the tweetchat/conversation as we chart the course for accountability and transparency in the utilization of the returned Nigerian asset.