The House of Representatives yesterday
ordered immediate investigations into the alleged illegal withdrawal by the federal government, of the excess crude oil money to the tune of over N100 billion.
The investigation team is to be led by the chairman of the Financial Committee, Hon Farouq Lawan, and that of Appropriations, Hon Gabriel Suswan, mandated to immed-iately get in touch with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), to verify and ascertain the veracity of the allegations and report to the House as soon as possible for imm-ediate action.
The 2004 appropriation act signed into law has provisions that any money realised from the sale of exc-ess crude oil must be referred to the National Assembly for approval before such money is spent and no such approval, so far, has apparently been sought from either of the chambers of the National Assembly, a violation of the provision which constitutes an offence.
The House took the decision to open investigations into the alleged illegal spending following a point of information raised by Hon Bashir Nadabo of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), from Katsina State.
The issue was not deb-ated but the deputy Speaker, Hon Austin Opara, who pres-ided over yesterday’s plenary session, summarily threw the task of the preliminary investigation at the team which he constituted. The report of the team is expected to determine the action of the House on the perceived illegality.
At an exclusive interview with Daily Trust yesterday, Hon Bashir Nadabo said he was prompted to alert the House following information he got yesterday morning from the Hausa service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), which indicated that Nigeria had spent over N100 billion from the excess crude money.
“But what annoyed me was that we passed a Bill into law with a proviso that any excess money from the sale of crude oil must be referred back to us for approval before making any expenditure but unfortunately, the Interna-tional Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank have indicated in their report that Obasanjo has spent over N100 billion and they must have a very good source for their information because they cannot come from the blues with such information.”
Responding to a question as to what such illegality would portend for the nation’s democracy if it is conf-irmed, Nadabo said that “it is democracy and this involves public funds and if it is ascertained that Obasanjo has spent the money as alleged, then he has violated the constitution and we will put that as one of the records we have against him.”
Meanwhile, the Minister of Finance, Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, in her subm-issions yesterday told the National Working Committee (NWC), of the Peoples Dem-ocratic Party (PDP), that the excess crude account was intact.
The PDP, according to its National Publicity Secretary, Barrister Venatius Ikem, told Daily Trust yesterday that the ruling party did not summon Okonjo-Iweala, but invited her along with other ministers and chief executives of government agencies and parastatals.
The meeting was to evaluate the nation’s socio-economic index with a view to identify where the gover-nment has failed to perform and to make amends.
In her submissions, the finance minister, Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala told the meeting that all the money from sale of excess crude oil is saved and not a kobo has been spent, adding that the country has so far saved N386 billion, equivalent to 2.9 billion dollars. Nigeria’s foreign reserve stands at 12.4 billion dollars, she also said.
The PDP in a statement at the end of the meeting sig-ned by its national publicity secretary said the party was satisfied with the explanations of Mrs Okonjo-Iweala and maintained that the alle-gations over secret spending of the excess crude money was the handwork of mischief makers and was untrue.
The party however examined the poor state of facilities in the nation’s tertiary institutions and agreed to work with the ministry on policies to improve the curriculum, teaching research and to address issues of infrastructural development and improved enrolment.
The party also tasked the National Poverty Alleviation Programme (NAPEP), to collaborate with the private sector to work out a comprehensive framework for poverty alleviation in the country.
The party at different times separately met yest-erday with Okonjo-Iweala, NAPEP national coordinator, Dr Magnus Kpakol and education minister, Professor Fabian Osuji, among others.
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