• Says Forensic Audit Revealed No Evidence of $50 Billion Loss
• Ex-President Clarifies Suspension of Sanusi, Defends Economic Record
Former President Goodluck Jonathan has refuted claims that Nigeria lost $49.8 billion under his administration.
These claims were made by the 16th Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, in his new book.
Speaking Thursday in Abuja at the book launch titled Public Policy and Agent Interests: Perspectives from The Emerging World, edited by former Minister of Finance, Shamsuddeen Usman, Jonathan dismissed the accusations.
The former president emphasized that such a substantial loss would have rendered the government unable to pay salaries.
“I need to say why I did not quite agree with him. All that he wrote was on some of the issues, especially the one that is related to me,” Jonathan said.
He specifically addressed Sanusi’s assertion that he was sacked for blowing the whistle on the alleged loss of $49.8 billion. Jonathan clarified, “It’s not quite correct. It was not that he was sacked. He was suspended.”
Jonathan further explained that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Financial Reporting Council couldn’t investigate the allegations thoroughly due to time constraints.
He stated, “Before we could finish, his tenure was already over. Probably we would have called him back.”
Confusion Over Figures
While reflecting on the fluctuating figures surrounding the allegations, Jonathan said, “Till today, I’m not convinced that the federal government lost $49.8 billion. After they came up with more figures; first $49.8 billion, later 20 billion, later 12 billion. So, I don’t even know the correct one.”
However, he noted that a forensic audit later revealed that no such massive sum was missing. Instead, Jonathan pointed out, “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 federation account.”
