Nigeria awaits return of $200m Malabu oil deal funds – Malami confirms

Minister of Justice Abubakar Malami has said Nigeria is awaiting the return of $200m from The Netherlands and Switzerland, as part of OPL 245 Malabu Oil.

Malami made this known while declaring open a capacity building workshop and interactive session with Judiciary Correspondents in Abuja on Tuesday.

The Attorney-General, who gave a scorecard of the ministry in the past one year, said: due to the anti-corruption crusade of the present administration, we facilitated the recovery of 62 billion dollars arrears from oil companies as part of federation government Production Sharing Agreement (PSA).

“Also recovered within the period is the sum of 311million dollars from the U.S. and New Jersey, in the third phase of Abacha loot and another 6.3 million dollars Abacha loot from the Republic of Northern Island”.

Malami said the money have been paid into the federal government treasury for utility development such as Lagos Ibadan Expressway, Kano Abuja Expressway and the second Niger Bridge in line with agreement reached with the foreign partners.

He further disclosed that over N685 million was recovered through the help of whistleblowers within the last one year while N500 million was recovered from forfeited vessels, trucks, and barges.

The AGF said that a legal framework introduced by the ministry has helped to raise stamp duty collection from a mere total of N22 billion over the years to N66 billion within the last six months of the amendment of the act.

He said that some bills which are currently before the National Assembly, including the electronic transaction, electronic evidence act, digital management act and electronic banking act will stimulate the economy when passed into law.

“There are several other acts to regulate emerging digital financial sub sector of the economy. “Some of these acts will provide for national digital certification authority that will regulate issuance and processing of public and private electronic key validations.

“The expected bills will prepare Nigeria for emerging realities relating to digital cash, bitcom and e-currency,’ the minister add Also speaking, the Solicitor General of the Federation and Permanent Secretary, in the ministry, Dayo Apata, SAN said effective coverage of the Justice sector will help prevent injustice in the country.

“This should be done by shining the spotlight on the actions of Judges, Lawyers and other stakeholders in the justice system”. He said that the growing interest by the public in what the judiciary sector does, necessitated the workshop. ”

The public is interested in how the sector handles criminal cases, election litigations, fight against corruption among others.

“The above underscored the importance of the media in creating the much needed awareness that will help shape public opinion and perception”.

He said the workshop was organised because of complaints that some news organisations send journalists with little training to cover judiciary, without recourse to the complexities and intricacies of the sector. ”

There are also complaints of sensational reporting, inaccurate presentation of facts or mutilation of context, contempt of court, media trials among others. “Therefore, it is our hope that this workshop would strengthen the skills of judiciary correspondents to achieve efficient and effective coverage of the sector,’ he added