Efforts of President Goodluck Jonathan administration to close the curtain on allegations of unremitted $20billion into the national coffers by the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC seem to have hit the rocks as General Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria’s President-elect said he will initiate a fresh probe into the issue when he assumes office.
Malam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, the former Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria who is now the Emir of Kano had in a petition to the presidency late 2013 alleged that the NNPC failed to remit the funds into the national coffers.
But he was sacked soon after the allegations became public.
The Federal Government later appointed PriceWaterHouseCoopers to conduct a forensic audit into NNPC accounts following outrage generated by the issue, including a probe of allegation by the National Assembly.
A report by the auditors released just before the last general elections however indicated that the amount the NNPC has failed to remit to the national treasury was $1.4 billion.
Diezani Allison Madueke, Minister of Petroleum told journalists last Wednesday that the NNPC has already started paying the missing $1.4 billion into the national treasury.
But General Buhari told a delegation from Adamawa State led by the state’s governor-elect, Bindow Jibrilla on Sunday that he will investigate the allegations of missing fund despite information that some persons already started returning money to government coffers
“His royal highness, the Emir of Kano, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi was removed from the Central bank because he said that about $20 billion was missing. Instead of the government to investigate the matter, they refused. Instead they sacked him. As God will have it, he is now the Emir of Kano and that is exactly what he wants to be.
“He has already written all the detailed report on it. The incoming government will not ignore it, even though we have promised to draw a line, but $20 billion is too big to ignore. This is Nigerian money and it must be investigated,” said Buhari.
The President elect also told the Adamawa State delegation that he is going to take issues of security, youth unemployment, and corruption as priority of his administration.
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