Former President Goodluck Jonathan says $49.8 billion did not go missing during his administration.
Muhammadu Sanusi, then governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and current emir of Kano, had claimed that the sum could not be accounted for, in a letter dated September 25, 2013.
Jonathan spoke on Thursday in Abuja during the launch of a book titled: ‘Public Policy And Agent Interests: Perspectives From The Emerging World’, co-authored by Shamsuddeen Usman, ministry of finance incorporated (MOFI) board chair.
Usman served as minister of planning in the Jonathan administration.
Sanusi, who also contributed to the publication, restated the allegation in the book.
In 2013, Sanusi wrote in a letter addressed to Jonathan: “I am constrained to formally write your Excellency, documenting serious concerns of the CBN on the continuous failure of the NNPC to repatriate significant proportion of the proceeds of the crude oil shipment it made ($49.8bn), in gross violation of the law.”
In 2015, Sanusi also raised concerns about a certain $20 billion which the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) allegedly failed to remit to the federation account.
In his opening remarks, Jonathan, who chaired the launch, said as much as he agreed with the concept of the book and recommends the journal for research and policy framing, he disagreed with Sanusi’s claim on the missing money.
According to Jonathan, there was no way that amount of money would be stolen from Nigeria without immediate impact and repercussion.
The former president also said Sanusi was not sacked from the apex bank in 2014 but was suspended.
“I disagree with some of the issues, especially the one that directly relates to me,” Jonathan said.
“The one that he raised that he was sacked. Because, if you can wish that the federal government lost $49.8 billion… that’s not quite correct.
“He was not sacked. He was suspended because the Financial Reporting Council queried the expenditure of CBN. And there were serious infractions that needed to be looked at. That was the reason.
“But somehow, the time was short. So before we finished, his tenure elapsed. Probably, he would have been called back.
“On the issue of $49.8 billion, until today, I’m not convinced that the federal government lost $49.8 billion.”
Jonathan also recounted how he was confronted by Angela Merkel, then German chancellor, on the issue.
He recalled explaining to her that such an amount could not have been stolen from a struggling economy.
He added that he was vindicated much later when the former CBN governor began to revise the sum from $49 billion to $20 billion and then $12 billion.
“Let me tell you a personal experience. The African presidents and the EU presidents, we had a meeting. I think in Belgium or Moscow,” he said.
“And during those meetings, you have bilateral talks, and the chancellor of Germany then, Angela Merkel, requested that we should have a bilateral meeting.
“So, because she requested, we had to go to where she arranged for the meeting. And I went there with some of my ministers. And there were many ministers from other countries as well.
“Even before I sat down, she raised her hand and said, President Jonathan, we are hearing about $49.8 billion missing.
“I said, what is happening? What’s the use of welcoming a guest? Then I smiled and said, Madam Chancellor, of course, the economy of Germany is very strong, so if you are talking about $49.8 billion, just say $50 billion.
“The economy of Germany is strong, so if you lose $50 billion, you would not notice it. But if Nigeria loses $50 billion, the federal government would not be able to pay salaries.”
Jonathan added that PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) discovered that no such amount was stolen but that $1.48 billion could not be accounted for by the NNPC.
He also said the then senate committee on finance, chaired by Ahmed Makarfi, investigated the issue and found the claim to be untrue.
“We commissioned the PwC, one of the best financial gurus, auditors and so on. I said they should do a forensic audit, but nobody can sit down and say $50 billion, because I have no idea about that one.
“The report they came up with was that there is $1.48 billion that they couldn’t really give a proper account of, and that NNPC should pay that money to the original account.
“They did not say we lost 12 billion or 20 billion or 50 billion. And Makarfi is still alive. Makarfi was the chairman of senate committee on finance, and the minute that publication came out, he said it.
“They directed their finance committee to investigate, and they used external professional auditors to look into it.
“They themselves didn’t see either 50 billion or 20 billion or 30 billion.”
He also said there needs to be clarity so “somebody who is reading the book will not just go with the impression that $50 billion was lost… when President Jonathan did not steal billions of dollars”.
Jonathan was Nigeria’s president from 2010 to 2015.
