President Goodluck Jonathan has recovered looted funds amounting to 22.5million pounds sterling from the Isle of Jersey in the United Kingdom back to Nigeria, his spokesman Dr Reuben Abati has said.


Hundreds of millions of dollars allegedly stashed by late General Sani Abacha were said to have been returned to the country.



Abati said this in Abuja yesterday while briefing newsmen on his principal’s achievements ahead of his 100 days in office billed for September 6.

Abati said the administration had also expanded oil production by 20 percent, thereby reclaiming Nigeria’s former position from Angola as Africa’s largest oil exporter.

He did not explain the production capacity, but the country’s oil production is said to be hovering around two million barrels per day.

The disclosure, however, is coming just as one of the country’s leading oil operators, Royal Dutch Shell, said it has shut down its 270 million standard cubic feet per day Utorogu Gas Plant following a pipeline leak.

Abati said the administration, during the period under review, demonstrated its commitment to the rule of law by obeying court judgements and respecting the doctrine of the separation of powers.

According to him, under the period, foreign reserve has risen by 10 percent to $34 billion, GDP growth rate month over month continued to grow from 6.7 percent in May to 6.9 percent in July, while inflation rate of 10.2 percent dropped to 9.4 percent in July.

Abati attributed the reduction in election disputes, which he put at 80 percent, to the commitment of the president to electoral reforms.

He said despite the delay in the formation of the cabinet which he attributed to the recess declared by the Senate, the president, eventually came up with a “stellar cabinet that has never been seen in the history of the country”.

He said with such a tested team armed with transformation agenda, the country was set to fulfil “the potential in the Morgan Stanley report from last July to the effect the Nigeria is set to overtake South Africa’s economy as the largest economy in Africa.”

On the judiciary and the rule of law, Abati said the president assented to several bills to increase access to justice and ensure compliance with court judgements, especially with regard to payment of judgement debts. He also listed assent to the Freedom of Information Bill and increased focus on legislative advocacy as some of Jonathan’s feats in the judiciary in the 100 days in office.

On security, he said the administration had sustained peace in the Niger Delta, stabilised maritime safety, reduced kidnapping in the South-east and invested in the facilities for intelligence-based security approach.