The former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, has been most unfortunate over one matter. His orchestrated blackmail against the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and, through it, the Jonathan administration, has continued to suffer tragic reversals.
The Senate Committee on Finance, in July last year, came up with an unequivocal verdict on the issue. It said that “there was never any unremitted $49.8billion”. And now, a forensic audit of NNPC accounts by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has corroborated the position of the Senate committee and has pointed out that “the spate of allegations and misinformation about missing funds or unremitted amounts can now benefit from fresh information provided from the report of the forensic audit.” But how did we come to be saddled with the hoopla over missing funds?
Sanusi, the man at the centre of the melodrama, had, in September 2013, written President Goodluck Jonathan alleging that NNPC had failed to remit $49.8 billion to the Federation Account over a 19-month period. He said that between January 2012 and July 2013, NNPC lifted $65 billion worth of crude oil and remitted only $15 billion to the Federation Account. The implication of Sanusi’s position was that $50 billion could not be accounted for.
Curiously, Sanusi, after intimating the president of the matter, did not give him the opportunity to look into his allegation. He (Sanusi), in a clear show of mischief, leaked the letter to the Press. What followed were hysterics and high drama. Opponents of the Jonathan administration feasted on the issue. It was in the light of this that the senate, acting on the overriding public interest, mandated its committee on finance to investigate the matter.
In the course of the investigations, Sanusi was given the opportunity to explain his claim. But rather than do that, he muddled up the situation the more. In one breath, he told the committee that $12 billion, not $49.8 was missing. In another, he said the missing fund was $20 billion. Then again, he put the missing fund at $19.8 billion.
These mix-ups were enough to dismiss Sanusi’s claims. But because some people have made up their mind that the allegation must be true, they continued to goad him on. Then the Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, had to come to the rescue. She called for a forensic audit on the issue in order to put paid to the wide allegations.
As noted earlier, PwC has just come up with its report. Like that of the senate, the report by PwC did not indict NNPC. It noted, however, that the NNPC and its subsidiary, the Nigeria Petroleum Development Company (NPDC), are expected to refund $1.48 billion, the net amount attributable to the Federation Account following the summary of the generated revenue and how it was expended.
Expectedly, those who have their eyes on indicting NNPC have interpreted this to mean that the said $1.48 billion was missing. But the NNPC has since clarified this. The corporation said the amount is the balance of the book value of the divested assets transferred to NPDC upstream subsidiary, excluding taxes and royalties.
With this verdict from PwC, it will no longer make sense for any person or group of persons to insinuate otherwise. It is high time we consigned this issue to the dustbin of recent mischiefs and face other issues of urgent national importance.
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