By Uche Amunike
Former President Goodluck Jonathan has finally set the records straight, concerning his alleged suspension of the former Central Bank Governor, Dr Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, current Emir of Kano, Muhammad Sanusi 11, for alleging that $49.8bn was missing from the government coffers.
Speaking, during the launch of the book titled ‘Public Policy and Agents Interests: Perspectives from the Emerging world’, which was co-authored by the former Finance Minister, Dr. Shamsudeen Usman, who was the Minister of Planning during his administration, former President Jonathan insisted that no such money went missing under his administration and that the allegation was cooked up by the Central Bank leadership under his government.
He was responding to parts of the book written by the former CBN governor, where he claimed that he was removed from office for exposing that alleged disappearance of the money. He claims that the incident led to his dismissal as CBN governor.
Recall that Sanusi Lamido Sanusi first raised the alarm about inconsistencies in oil revenue remittances and claimed that $49 billion was not accounted for. Eventually, the initial figure was revised to $20 billion after discussions with the Minister of Finance. This allegation was denied by the Jonathan administration, even as some officials accused Sanusi of trying to undermine his regime.
A few months after, in February 2014, after the allegations, former President Jonathan, suspended Sanusi Lamido Sanusi for financial recklessness and misconduct as the CBN governor.
Some Nigerians, however, believed that the suspension was politically motivated and linked to Sanusi’s whistleblowing on the missing funds.
During his opening remarks at the book launch, Jonathan, who was chairman of the event, stated that, even though he agreed with the book’s thesis and recommended it for research, he did not agree with Sanusi‘s claim about the missing money. He explained that Sanusi was not sacked by his government, but suspended and that such a large sum of money could not have been missing in Nigeria who’s budget at the time was $32 billion, without immediate repercussions.
He further stated that former German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, confronted him on the matter and he explained that such an amount could not be stolen from a struggling country without anyone knowing.
His words: ‘Let me mention that I do not agree with some of the issues raised by one of the contributors, but I don’t intend to engage in a debate because he is our royal father, and he is present here.’
‘The claim that he was sacked for whistleblowing that the Federal Government lost $49.8bn is not entirely correct. He was not sacked. He was suspended because the Financial Reporting Council queried the CBN’s expenditure. There were also serious infractions that needed to be investigated. That was the reason.’
‘But time was short, so before we could conclude, his tenure ended. Perhaps he would have been reinstated,’ he said.
He maintained that such an amount never missed under his watch, adding that some of his claims became inconsistent when the figures shifted from $49billion to $20billion and then to $12 billion.
He continued: ‘Regarding the $49.8bn, to this day, I am not convinced that the Federal Government lost such an amount. That year, our budget was $31.6bn. For a country with a budget of $31.6bn to lose nearly $50bn, and still pay salaries without anyone feeling the impact, seems improbable. The researchers who wrote this book need to conduct further investigation.
‘Moreover, our esteemed royal father initially quoted $49.8bn, then $20bn, and later $12bn. I’m still unsure of the correct figure,’ he reiterated.
Jonathan explained that PricewaterhouseCoopers, which investigated the matter, confirmed that no such amount had been stolen, even though the NNPC could not account for $1.48 billion at the time. He also stated that the Senate Committee on Finance which was chaired by Senator Ahmed Makarfi investigated the issue and found the claims to be unsubstantiated.
Sanusi responded: ‘My boss, who sacked me. I was constructively dismissed. I continue to respect Jonathan, and I hold no grudges against anyone.’
