Three Popular Tourist Buildings that can be Built With Abacha’s Loots in Nigeria

$4.3billion! That’s right, four point three billion dollars (some reports claim it could be as high as ten billion dollars) is the estimated amount of money the Abacha regime, one of the most avaricious regimes in Africa in the last couple of decades, stole between a 1993 and 1998.

While a moderate amount of Abacha’s stolen funds has been recovered and returned back to the Nigerian Government in trickles ($322million was recently returned by the Swiss government), a chunk of that amount still abounds in secret bank vaults across the world.

In this article, we will take a look at three popular tourist buildings these stolen funds can easily build in Nigeria.

The Burj Khalifa

 

This renowned structure is housed in Dubai. It’s said to be the tallest building in the world reaching above 828.9metres from the ground level. You are probably thinking, “It’s Dubai, those people have more money than anyone could phantom!” Well, we do not have “the money” of the United Arab Emirates, but we certainly have the money to build the Burj Khalifa. Out of the estimated $4.3billion stolen by the Abacha regime, only $1.5billion dollars is needed to build the Burj Khalifa.

 

Disneyland

 

In Nigeria, growing up as a kid, I used to wish on the stars that the amusement parks I see on TV shows become real. I’ve always loved Disney Land, the most spectacular park in the world! The first park was opened in 1955 and cost $17million ( $157million in today’s value when adjusted for inflation). That’s just about 4% of the estimated amount stolen by the dark google monster.

China Central TV Headquarters

Arguably the most eye-catching building in the world. I couldn’t get a tentative cost for the building of the Chinese State Broadcaster, China Central Television, but the stat below shows the advertising revenue of CCTV in 2010 by a particular industry.

In 2010, the food industry spent around 3.9 billion yuan ($609,498,630) for advertising on China Central Television CCTV in China.”

That’s just about 14% of the money stolen by the Abacha regime! I’m sure the building didn’t cost that much to build.