The Africa Network for Environment and Economic Justice has highlighted the importance of the Monitoring Transparency and Accountability in the use of Returned Assests (MANTRA) in tracking project funds.
At the MANTRA project learning summit held in Abuja on Thursday, the executive-director , Rev David Ugolor explained that ANEEJ and its partners have worked collaboratively with the Nigerian government to carry out end-to-end monitoring of the use of $322.5million Abacha 11 returned from Switzerland and being spent for poor Nigerians enrolled under the Conditional Cash Transfer of the Social Investment Programme.
He further explained the monitored fund of the $311.9 Abacha 111 returned from Jersey and the United States of America being spent on three infrastructural projects which is the Abuja -Kaduna -Kano amongst others .
He said ANEEJ and its partners are determined to continue the implementation of the MANTRA project because of the clear results it has acehieved as well as the potential impact which still lay ahead of them.
“In th last three years, ANEEJ and it’s Eight partners drawn from the Six geo-political zones of Nigeria have mobilized over 800 community based organizations, crisscrossing the length and breadth of the country and internationally with the three key objectives of advocating for return assests stashed in foreign jurisdictions.
“We have also actively followed implementation of the London Anti-Corruption Sunmit , Global Forum on Assest Recovery (GFAR) summit recommendations,” he said.
According to him, he said that with such determination , they can achieve in the next months and years to come their set targets .
On the MANTRA project 3 years sustainability plan , Rev Ugolor and a staff of ANEEJ, Sandra Eguagie explained that it objective is for the public to be aware and knowledgeable enough to hold government accountable on issues of assets recovery and management.
They further said the capacity of CSOs and citizens enhanced to effectively monitor the use of the recovery $322.5 million Abacha loot,$ 900,000 Alamieyeseigha loot , James Ibori loot and other recovered assests.