The United Kingdom has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Federal Government of Nigeria to enable the return of more than $9.5 million in recovered illicit funds.
According to a statement released on Friday by the British High Commission in Abuja, the agreement was signed in December 2025 by the UK’s Attorney General for Jersey, Mark Temple, and representatives of the Nigerian government.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Jersey, a self-governing Crown Dependency of the United Kingdom, is located in the English Channel near France. The latest MoU builds on two earlier agreements between Jersey and Nigeria, under which over $300 million in recovered assets had previously been repatriated.
Over the years, the UK, working alongside its Crown Dependencies, has supported Nigeria’s efforts to trace, seize, and return proceeds of corruption hidden abroad. Funds recovered under earlier agreements were transparently applied to major infrastructure projects, including the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway and the Second Niger Bridge, under internationally monitored frameworks.
Under the new agreement, the returned funds will again be directed toward key infrastructure projects, namely the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, the Second Niger Bridge, and the Abuja-Kano Road. With the first two projects already completed, the recovered assets will now be used to support the completion of the 375-kilometre Abuja-Kano Highway, which connects the nation’s capital to its second-largest city.
The statement explained that on November 29, 2023, Jersey’s Attorney General applied to the Royal Court of Jersey under the Forfeiture of Assets (Civil Proceedings) (Jersey) Law 2018 to confiscate funds held in a local bank account. On January 12, 2024, the court granted the forfeiture order, ruling that the money constituted suspicious proceeds of corruption involving the diversion of government funds by third-party contractors acting for senior Nigerian officials.
Commenting on the development, Temple described the recovery as evidence of the effectiveness of civil forfeiture laws in combating corruption and praised the cooperation of Nigerian authorities and his department’s Economic Crime and Confiscation Unit.
Nigeria’s Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, also welcomed the development, describing it as proof of the strength of Nigeria’s collaboration with international partners.
He assured the Bailiwick of Jersey that the repatriated funds would be used responsibly and in strict compliance with the terms of the MoU, reaffirming Nigeria’s commitment to transparency and accountability in managing recovered assets.