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Okonjo Iweala admits that $10.8 billion is missing

Published

11 years ago

February 25, 2014

I have just been sent the following statement by the Nigerian
finance ministry, which I understand it is putting out later
today.
I am going to quote most of it, because it is gripping, in the
context of the the decision of the Nigerian president Goodluck
Jonathan to suspend the central bank governor, Lamido Sanusi.
The gloss from the ministry goes like this:
“The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the
Economy Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has asked for urgent
action with regard to an independent forensic audit of conflicting
claims of unaccounted funds made by the Nigerian National
Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and suspended Governor of
the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mallam Sanusi Lamdio
Sanusi”.
And here is a direct statement from Dr Okonjo-Iweala, the
finance minister:
“My position on this has been clear from the start. The Ministry
of Finance’s reconciliation showed a shortfall of $10.8bn in
NNPC remittances to the Federation account. After this, the
conflicting claims continued with new figures such as $20bn being
mentioned.
“So since 13th February I have called for an independent
forensic audit.
“President Goodluck Jonathan indeed announced last night that
there will be an investigation into whether there are any funds
missing from NNPC. He also indicated that the correct process
needs to be followed in this investigation and I understand that
the entity that has the proper authority to initiate such an
investigation is the Auditor-General of the federation.
“I therefore want to see the truth from an investigation under
the auspices of the Auditor-General, which in my view should
be undertaken as a matter of extreme urgency by independent
external auditor.”
My people which one should we follow ?