Former Governor of the Central Bank
of Nigeria and the current Emir of Kano, Lamido Sanusi, says the
issues surrounding the missing $20bn oil money have not been adequately
addressed by the Federal Government.
Sanusi, who is now known as Emir
Muhammadu Sanusi II, had last year raised the alarm about missing $20bn
but was removed shortly after by President Goodluck Jonathan.
The Federal Government later hired an
international audit firm, Pricewaterhousecoopers, to audit the account
of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation. The PWC report stated
that NNPC must remit $1.48bn to the Federation Account.
However, Sanusi, said during an
interview with Christiane Amanpour on the Cable News Network on
Wednesday, that the level of corruption in the oil sector was still
high.
He said for instance, no one had
accounted for the billions of dollars paid in kerosene subsidy which was
not approved by the National Assembly.
Sanusi added that Nigeria’s economic crisis caused by the fall in oil prices, the stock market crash and the devaluation of the naira, was due to the mismanagement of oil funds.
He said, “My position in the Central
Bank was that there was always this gap of $20bn after reconciliation
between what the NNPC exported and what it deposited into the Federation
Account. I raised a number of issues that I think have not yet been
discussed and addressed sufficiently.
“One of them is the billions of dollars
being paid in kerosene subsidies without appropriation by the National
Assembly and against a presidential order and we don’t know who
authorised those payments and yet no one has owned up to say I
authorised the payments, I made a mistake. It must stop. I think those
issues need to be addressed and until we address them and begin to close
all the loopholes in government revenues, we are going to continue to
create opportunity for the destruction of the economy.
“It could be $20bn at the end of the
day. After reconciliation it could amount to $14(bn) or $12(bn) and I
think these issues reflect unconstitutional and illegal withholding of
revenues from the Federation Account.
“The country is paying the price today; oil prices have crashed, the currency has been devalued, the stock market
has collapsed, government revenues are in a very bad shape. Whoever
wins, whether this government or the opposition, will have to deal with
these issues. The petroleum sector is a major drain on the resources of
the country and this has to be looked at.”
Sanusi, who said the presidential
candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Maj.Gen Muhammadu Buhari
(retd.), was right to say that corruption was killing Nigeria, added
that Nigeria must stop living in denial.
The Emir praised the military for its
recent successes in the fight against terrorism, saying Boko Haram would
have been curtailed if the anti-terror war had started a long time ago.
Reacting to a question about threats by
Boko Haram to kill him, Sanusi said, “If I had a way of knowing that if
Boko Haram took my life, they would stop killing people in Nigeria, I
would give my life. I have nothing else to aspire to, I have achieved.
I think the important thing is for every Muslim leader to speak up.”
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