The Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership (CACOL) has lamented the expenditure of tranches of Abacha loot previously returned to Nigeria.
The body spoke on Tuesday in reaction to the latest $311.7m repatriation by the United States of America.
CACOL advised the Buhari administration to ensure judicious use of the fund to transform the dwindling fortunes of the country.
In a statement, CACOL Chairman, Debo Adeniran, said: “As at the last count, over USD3bn (Three Billion American Dollars) have been repatriated from various countries that include: Switzerland, UK, etc..
“Nothing tangible could be said to have happened to the people of this country even with all the looted funds being recovered or repatriated from both within and outside the country since the advent of the civil rule and under the current dispensation.”
The organisation said Nigeria continues to run a mono-cultural economy with the price of oil nose-diving, while an average Nigerian continues to live below the United Nations-suggested level of $2.
“This is more hearty-rending as the annual Gross Domestic Product growth rate of the country remains at barely 2.5 percent.
“The level of relooting of such repatriated funds became so worrisome and a cause for regrets that the U.S. government was reported to have insisted that Nigeria should be ready to ‘replace’ the over $300m it returned if the fund was misused,” it said.
It insisted that the federal government should spend returned loots on provisions of amenities that could ameliorate the unsuitable conditions of the majority of Nigerians worsened by the coronavirus pandemic.
CACOL pledged to provide monitoring and oversight roles towards assisting government in achieving openness and accountability.