In a frantic and unusual memo to the president on September 25, 2013, Central Bank governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, detailed how government-owned oil firm, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, systematically diverted the huge sum, being sales proceeds between January 2012 and July 2013.
The CBN governor said for all crude oil sales within the period, the NNPC paid only 24 percent proceeds into the federation account, and diverted or stole the remaining 76 percent-totalling N8 trillion.
As the CBN calculated, the NNPC sold at least 594 million barrels of oil within the period, and should have paid N10.3 trillion (USD65.3 billion) into the federation account. But the corporation paid only N2.5 trillion (USD15.5 billion), Mr. Sanusi said, citing documentation from pre-shipment inspectors.
The whereabouts of the huge balance is unknown.
The weight of the differential is clearer if evaluated against the fact that the tiny percentage remitted by the NNPC managed to finance the nation in that period, raising the question of how much the total would then have achieved for a country unable to pay its university lecturers who have been on strike for five months.
Put simply, for each barrel of oil sold, say at an average of USD100, the NNPC illegally cornered $74 into an unknown account and gave Nigeria only $26.
Mr. Sanusi said he was “constrained” to hint the president after observing the huge shortfalls for years.
He accused the NNPC of breaching two key federal laws, and urged the president to act expeditiously by ordering sweeping investigation and prosecution of those found culpable.
Two months on, the president has refused to act on the damning memo delivered to him personally by the CBN governor.
In fact, after receiving the letter, the president, presidency sources say, questioned Mr. Sanusi on why such a letter was written in the first place and sent to him.
PREMIUM TIMES can also confirm that finance minister and former World Bank chief, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, is also aware of the CBN letter but has done nothing about it; while petroleum minister, Diezani Alison-Madueke, implicated in several corruption probes in the past, is said to be fully in the know about the massive plunder of crude oil money by the NNPC.
In a frantic and unusual memo to the president on September 25, 2013, Central Bank governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, detailed how government-owned oil firm, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, systematically diverted the huge sum, being sales proceeds between January 2012 and July 2013.
ReplyDeleteThe CBN governor said for all crude oil sales within the period, the NNPC paid only 24 percent proceeds into the federation account, and diverted or stole the remaining 76 percent-totalling N8 trillion.
As the CBN calculated, the NNPC sold at least 594 million barrels of oil within the period, and should have paid N10.3 trillion (USD65.3 billion) into the federation account. But the corporation paid only N2.5 trillion (USD15.5 billion), Mr. Sanusi said, citing documentation from pre-shipment inspectors.
The whereabouts of the huge balance is unknown.
The weight of the differential is clearer if evaluated against the fact that the tiny percentage remitted by the NNPC managed to finance the nation in that period, raising the question of how much the total would then have achieved for a country unable to pay its university lecturers who have been on strike for five months.
Put simply, for each barrel of oil sold, say at an average of USD100, the NNPC illegally cornered $74 into an unknown account and gave Nigeria only $26.
Mr. Sanusi said he was “constrained” to hint the president after observing the huge shortfalls for years.
He accused the NNPC of breaching two key federal laws, and urged the president to act expeditiously by ordering sweeping investigation and prosecution of those found culpable.
Two months on, the president has refused to act on the damning memo delivered to him personally by the CBN governor.
In fact, after receiving the letter, the president, presidency sources say, questioned Mr. Sanusi on why such a letter was written in the first place and sent to him.
PREMIUM TIMES can also confirm that finance minister and former World Bank chief, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, is also aware of the CBN letter but has done nothing about it; while petroleum minister, Diezani Alison-Madueke, implicated in several corruption probes in the past, is said to be fully in the know about the massive plunder of crude oil money by the NNPC.