War Of Words: $20b Is Missing - Sanusi Insists, Okonjo-Iweala Speechless Concerning Expenditure Of $10b

The second day of the investigative hearing of the Senate Committee on Finance into the missing $20 billion oil money has come to an end in a whole load of drama.

The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi Insisted the money is missing while Okonjo-Iweala declared her Ministry lacked the capacity to validate the claims contained in NNPC documents from the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) showing how the initial outstanding $10.8 billion was spent. She said an independent forensic team was needed to examine the documents.

Speaking to the committee, Sanusi said that despite the explanation tendered by Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, there is an outstanding $20 billion between what NNPC oil shipments and what it paid to government.

Mr. Sanusi insists the outstanding $6 billion given by NNPC to the NPDC should have gone to the federal government, but that it disappeared into private hands from there, and offered to bring in lawyers to defend that claim on the basis of three advisory opinions the CBN has already received.

Testifying earlier, Okonjo-Iweala aligned herself with the Ministry of Petroleum Resources and the NNPC, despite declaring her Ministry lacked the capacity to validate the claims contained in NNPC documents from the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) showing how the initial outstanding $10.8 billion was spent. She said an independent forensic team was needed to examine the documents.

Concerning the $6 billion which Mr. Sanusi said the NNPC diverted into private pockets, Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala also said that finding out who owns the money would require an independent legal opinion.

But also testifying Andrew Yakubu, Group Managing Director of the NNPC, basically advised Nigerians to forget about ever seeing the N10.8 billion in question or wasting their time looking for it, declaring it has been “spent on subsidy, pipeline maintenance and other losses.”

“The impression Nigerians have is that $10.8 billion is seated in the four towers of the NNPC [offices],” he said, underlining that the money is gone.

President Jonathan, the Finance minister, Okonjo-Iweala and the Petroleum Resources minister, Alison-Madueke , who rushed back from London yesterday, have reportedly resolved to prolong the investigations by bringing in forensic expert pending the time the CBN Governor, Lamido Sanusi could be completely sidelined.

Source: Legit.ng