The United States government and the Federal Republic of Nigeria have signed a memorandum of understanding to repatriate the sum of $52.88 million in stolen funds to Nigeria.

The funds were part of the Galactica asset linked to former Minister of Petroleum, Diezani Alison-Madueke.

Speaking during the signing, the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), said the agreement provides that $50 million of the funds, which is about N77 billion, will be used to fund rural electrification projects to increase the reliability and availability of renewable energy in Nigeria.

The minister added that the balance of $2.88 million will be disbursed as a grant by Nigeria to the International Institute for Justice (IIJ) to support “the Rule of Law and Counter-Terrorism Project,” through counter-terrorism capacity building for criminal justice sector practitioners in East, West, and North Africa.

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While commending the United States for their cooperation towards the recovery, he assured that measures have been put in place to ensure transparency in the utilisation of the funds.

In his response, the US Ambassador to Nigeria, Richard Mills, expressed the government’s trust in the Nigerian government’s determination to apply the funds transparently as agreed in the repatriation agreement by the two sides.