A former Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi
Okonjo-Iweala, on Wednesday said she transferred $322m from the looted
funds recovered from the former Head of State, the late Gen. Sani
Abacha, to the Office of the National Security Adviser for military
operations in the North-East.
The ex-minister, in a statement by her
Media Adviser, Mr. Paul Nwabuikwu, said the transfer of the fund was
approved after a committee, set up by former President Goodluck
Jonathan, gave approval for the use of the fund.
She explained that based on the decision
of the committee, she personally requested that part of the recovered
fund be used for security operations while the rest be channelled to
developmental purposes.
The minister stated that she decided to
release the amount to the ONSA following various accusations from some
quarters that she was starving the military of funds to prosecute the
war on terrorism.
There was a report on Wednesday that the
former minister diverted N61.4bn from the Abacha loot to the office of
the former NSA, Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd.).
Okonjo-Iweala was reported to have written a letter to Jonathan requesting the transfer of the fund to the NSA office.
The former finance minister had, last week, said she had nothing to do with the $2.1bn arms probe.
Responding to a statement by the Edo
State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole, the ex-finance minister had said she
had “absolutely nothing” to do with the arms purchase scam.
But the statement by Nwabuikwo explained
that as captured in the memo, Okonjo-Iweala insisted that the fund be
deployed after satisfying three conditions.
The statement reads in part, “As part of
the campaign of falsehood against the former Minister of Finance, Dr
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala by Edo Governor, Adams Oshiomhole, and other
powerful and corrupt interests, another baseless story has been
published by some online media.
“To achieve their evil propaganda
objective of tarnishing her name, these evil elements have distorted the
contents of a memo, dated January 20, 2015, in which the former
Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, responded to a request by
the former National Security Adviser, Col. Ibrahim Dasuki (retired), for
funds to prosecute the terror war against Boko Haram.
“The central responsibility of the
Minister of Finance is to find sources of funding for the financing of
approved national priorities such as security, job creation and
infrastructure.
“It will be recalled that throughout
2014, there were public complaints by the military hierarchy to
President Goodluck Jonathan about the inadequacy of funds to fight the
anti-terror war in the North-East, resulting in Boko Haram making gains
and even taking territories.
“A lot of the criticism was directed at
the Federal Ministry of Finance under Dr Okonjo-Iweala, which was
accused of not doing enough to find funds for the operations.”
She added, “It was about this time that
some new Abacha funds of about $322m were returned with another $700m
still expected to be returned.
“Former President Jonathan set up a
committee, comprising the former Minister of Justice, former NSA and the
former Minister of Finance to determine how best to use both the
returned and expected funds for development.
“The NSA made a case for using the
returned funds for urgent security operations, since, she noted, there
could not be any development without peace and security.
“Based on this, a decision was taken to
deploy about $322m for the military operations, while the expected $700m
would be applied to development programmes as originally conceived.
“Following the discussions and based on
the urgency of the NSA’s memo, Dr Okonjo-Iweala requested the President
to approve the transfer of the requested amount to the NSA’s Office for
the specified purposes.”
The statement said the attempt to link
the ex-minister’s name to any misuse of these funds for any purpose
other than security “is totally false and cannot stand.”
Okonjo-Iweala must be arrested, insists Oshiomhole
Meanwhile, Oshiomhole has said the
Federal Government must make sure that the ongoing investigation into
arms deals under the past administration is total by ensuring that all
those involved in what he called “the chain of conspiracy” are dealt
with decisively.
Specifically, the governor called for
the arrest and prosecution of Okonjo-Iweala, arguing that there was no
way money could have been taken from the nation’s treasury without her
knowledge.
Oshiomhole spoke with State House
correspondents on Wednesday shortly after he met behind closed-doors
with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
He said the government could not afford
to be selective in the probe because in criminal law, all those involved
must be charged with conspiracy.
He said Okonjo-Iweala, who was also the
Coordinating Minister of the Economy under former President Goodluck
Jonathan, could not be coordinating “a corruption-ridden economy” and be
pretending to be an angel.
Oshiomhole argued that if a Minister of
Finance endorsed documents to ensure the release of funds, it was the
responsibility of the government official to also ensure that the money
was spent on the purpose for which it was released.
The governor said, “I am not shocked at
the revelations from the arms probe. I have just told some people that
the government has to go the whole hog because I know as a governor that
no money gets out of the treasury even after I have approved as the
governor without the commissioner of finance. That is the procedure.
“So, the probe should go into whether or
not this money was properly appropriated, all of it. How did the money
get out of the treasury, through who? The Minister of Finance, under the
rules, must endorse before money gets out of the treasury, before the
Central Bank of Nigeria will release the money.
“All those ministers of finance,
including Okonjo-Iweala, should be probed. I don’t care what people say.
You cannot be coordinating a corruption-ridden economy and be
pretending to be an angel.”
Oshiomhole added, “We cannot selectively deal with the issue. We must deal with all those involved in this chain of conspiracy.
“In criminal law, when two or three
people are involved in an act of criminality, all of them are charged
with conspiracy because you cannot get money out of the treasury without
them knowing.
“For a government that was talking about
transparency, due process, no objection and all those things they put
in place, I am unable to accept that money can come out without the
Minister of Finance endorsing documents.
“When you endorse documents, you must follow through to ensure that funds are used for the purpose that they were released.”
Oshiomhole noted that the then National
Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd.), was supposed to be an
advisory officer and not a procurement agent for government.
While saying he was happy about the
revelations so far, the governor said the figures currently in public
domain were just a tip of the iceberg.
He stated, “Dasuki is only one bleeding point. There were several bleeding points in the system.
“If you look at the total expenditure on
subsidy, which the World Bank has just released its figure, lay your
hands on the various appropriation bills passed by the National Assembly
in the recent past and see how much was appropriated for oil subsidy
for those period and you will find out that they are not up to half of
what government actually spent.
“This means money not appropriated was
spent. That is criminal. People, who were involved in those acts, must
be brought to justice.”
On the position of the Nigeria
Governors’ Forum on the ongoing minimum wage debate, Oshiomhole said his
colleagues missed the point.
He argued that if there were crises in the system, it was natural that those who had excess fat should shed weight.
The governor said by considering reducing minimum wage or workforce, governors were only looking for an escape route.
He said, “With all due respect to my
brother-governors, they missed the point. It is offensive to talk about
minimum. How can the food of the steward be the reason why elders have
nothing to eat?
“If there are crises in the system, it is those who have excess fat that should shed weight, not the skeleton.
“The idea of using minimum wage is very
offensive to my own morality. Governors of course must shed weight but
it goes beyond token system. We are dealing with structural challenges.
“When there are issues, we just look for
the escape route option. Those are not at the heart of the challenge.
We must revisit issues.”
Oshiomhole added that it was wrong to
profer the same solution to the various problems facing each of the
states of the federation, saying each state should evaluate its problem
and come up with solutions.
He wondered why he, as governor of Edo
State, would earn the same salary as the governor of Lagos State and
other states richer than his state.
He added, “I also believe that it is
simplistic to believe that one drug will cure all the ailments in the
various states. Every state has to take its own independent evaluation
of its own problems and design appropriate policy instrument to deal
with those problems as they relate to each state.
“We cannot have governors’ wives’
solution. The problem in Y State is not the same with the ones in Edo
State. Everybody has to deal with his own.
“I also think that if anybody ever wants
to talk about federalism, let us not talk about it when it affects the
wage of the lowest paid.
“I have asked this question: why should
Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole, receive the same salary as Ambode,
the governor of Lagos State, when the population of Lagos State is more
than double the population of Edo State and their GDP is much higher
than that of Edo State?
“Why should I receive the same pay as
the governor of Zamfara State? Why should I receive the same pay as the
governor of Akwa Ibom State? These states are richer, not necessarily
courtesy of anybody’s industry, but by the accident of location.
“If we want to preach this principle of
federal system, everybody should pay according to his cost of living.
The cost of governing Edo State is not the same as the cost of governing
Lagos State.
“Why should the Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Commission fix my pay and fix the pay of Lagos State?
“If we want to run a true federal
system, start from the top; that is leading by example. We cannot
protect those privileged ones at the top and attack those at the bottom.
“This has nothing to do with the fact
that I was once a labour leader. Even if I wasn’t, the truth is that
wages are not a burden to this economy. People also need to understand
that assuming, without suggesting that we abolish wages, no more salary,
what happens?
“When people do not earn and therefore
they cannot spend, they are excluded from the economy. That fact of
exclusion will have devastating impact on consumption levels in the
economy.
“Where will manufacturers of goods and
services sell? You take a look at the average living pattern of salary
workers, you will find out that their average consumption pattern is
more inward looking. They will likely be the guys who eat a lot of
garri, pounded yam, fried yam and pepper soup made in Nigeria.
“Compare it to the consumption pattern
of the elite. They are the ones that will buy first-class ticket on
British Airways. They are the ones that are likely to buy vehicles that
are imported; they are likely to live in homes half of which are built
with imported materials.”
The governor said he was currently fighting battles in his state by forcing the rich to pay taxes, especially land use charge.
Oshiomhole stated, “I am fighting battles in Edo State. I am saying to the rich guys that they have to pay tax.
“They are saying ‘who am I’ and I am saying ‘I am government’. You pay your land use charge on your house abroad.
“I squeeze you; if you do not pay, we will take you to court and secure conviction and take you to prison.’’
While justifying the Federal
Government’s proposed N6tn 2016 Budget, Oshiomhole said it was clear
that over the past four years under the past government, budgets had
been used to service recurrent expenditure.
He observed that the nation did not have more than 10 per cent allocated to capital project in the 2015 budget.
This, he argued, meant that the country would be watching helplessly while its infrastructure decayed daily.
He said the situation was responsible for the infrastructure crisis across the country.
The governor explained, “If you are going to reverse that, you need to increase the size of the budget.
“If you want to cut the personnel cost
in order to reduce recurrent expenditure, then two things will happen:
you either reduce wages or you reduce the number of workers. Because
this government is committed to job creation, that option is clearly not
on the card.
“How then will you find fund to deal
with capital projects that will improve the quality of lives of the
people, infrastructure that will create an enabling environment for
businesses to compete? You need to spend more money.
“We cannot bail Nigerians out of the dejection we face without injecting more money into the economy.
“Under the past government, under the
cover of arranged stealing, what was recorded as oil production was as
low as 1.7 million barrels per day, the rest are stolen. Government has
taken steps to get the Armed Forces to protect the nation’s crude oil.”
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