US to return $52.8 mn in seized assets of Nigeria's former oil minister

The United States announced Friday that it would be returning $52.88 million in seized assets to Nigeria as part of a yearslong corruption probe against former oil minister Diezani Alison-Madueke and associates, according to a joint statement by Nigeria's minister of justice and the United States government.

It marks the first repatriation of assets linked to Alison-Madueke, who served as Nigeria's oil minister from 2010 to 2015. She rose to prominence as a powerful figure under former President Goodluck Jonathan, and became the first female president of the oil alliance OPEC.

The seized assets, including a superyacht and prime real estate in New York and California, were confiscated in 2023 by US authorities during Alison-Madueke's trial.

Of the repatriated funds, $50 million will be allocated to rural electrification programmes in Nigeria, while the remaining $2.88 million will be disbursed as a grant by the African country to the International Institute for Justice to support rule of law and counterterrorism operations.

As a minister, Alison-Madueke had pledged to transform the oil sector but was accused by authorities of looting millions of dollars in public funds alongside her associates. Authorities say that many such assets were allegedly domiciled in the United States and the United Kingdom.

Although she has consistently denied any wrongdoing, Nigeria's antigraft agency has secured court orders seizing houses, cars and jewellery in Nigeria, which it claims were proceeds of corruption connected to the former minister and her associates.