•Says Alison-Madueke has instructed PWC to audit NNPC •Govs tackle president
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has expressed concern over the politicisation of the letter written by its governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, to President Goodluck Jonathan notifying him of the non-remittance of $49.8 billion accruing from oil revenues into the Federation Account by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation over an 18-month period.
The CBN, in statement issued Thursday by its Director, Corporate Communications, Ugochukwu Okoroafor, said it would neither confirm nor deny the existence of such a letter, adding that it considered “any discussion by it on the alleged letter to be appropriate”.
The CBN’s statement coincided with the request by the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF), chaired by the Rivers State Governor, Chibuike Amaechi, to meet with the president over Sanusi’s letter and seek clarification on its content.
However, the central bank, in the statement, sought to provide clarifications on the matter, stating: “The CBN is statutorily mandated to establish price stability, protect the external value of our national currency, manage the external reserves of the federation and ensure the smooth functioning of our financial system, as well as provide advise to the president on economic matters.”
It pointed out that its capacity to perform its role effectively is strengthened or undermined by the extent to which the nation is able to increase foreign exchange earnings and savings from these earnings, thus boosting the Excess Crude Account (ECA), raising reserve levels, providing currency stability and moderating interest rates with limited risks to inflation and financial stability.
The CBN added that “in the performance of this role, it is natural for the CBN to be concerned at the low level of accretion to reserves and the ECA, inspite of strong international oil prices, especially as Nigeria’s performance is compared with oil producing economies.”
It stated that it was aware that this concern was shared by the president, Federal Ministry of Finance, state governors, legislators, economists, analysts and all stakeholders involved in managing the economy and discussions on how to address that matter are being held at the highest level of government.
“The CBN is aware that, on the instruction of the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, the audit firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC), has been directed to audit the revenues of NNPC,” it said.
It further held that the central bank was aware of a proposal to set up a technical team made up of representatives of the Ministry of Finance, NNPC and CBN to examine the sources of any revenue leakages and propose appropriate fiscal controls.
The central bank said it welcomed these initiatives, adding: “They represent a positive contribution to the process of improving the management of the economy, especially if they lead to greater oversight of the finance ministry over oil revenues and improvements in disclosure and transparency in the oil industry.”
The central bank observed that it recognised that there was an urgent need to review fiscal terms of sharing revenues between the federal government and oil companies to improve governance and transparency in the oil sector, which it added underscored the need to urgently pass the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB).
“The CBN will continue to use appropriate channels of communication in these matters and hereby assures all stakeholders in the country of its continued support in all efforts aimed at strengthening the Nigerian economy and reducing its vulnerability to shocks from the external sector,” it said.
It concluded by stating that it will not issue further statements on the unremitted revenues and urged the public to avoid unnecessary politicisation of a technical matter while awaiting the outcome of ongoing consultations and reviews.
The CBN’s statement notwithstanding, the NGF arose from its meeting in the early hours of yesterday expressing the need for the governors to meet with the president on Sanusi’s allegations.
Reading the communiqué of the meeting, Amaechi said the governors expressed the need for such a meeting bearing in mind that the National Economic Council (NEC) had not been able to meet as and when due in the last four months.
The NEC is chaired by Vice-President Namadi Sambo and serves as the statutory platform where key economic decisions are taken. A NEC meeting ought to have taken place yesterday, but was postponed at the eleventh hour by the presidency.
According to Amaechi, “Given the weighty allegations contained in a recent letter to Mr. President by the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on the state of the economy, members mandated the chairman to request for a meeting with His Excellency, the President, in order to deliberate on issues of critical national importance.
“The National Economic Council (NEC) meeting scheduled for tomorrow, December 12, 2013 where this issue would have been addressed has been postponed indefinitely. It is instructive to note that the NEC has not been convened in four months.
“The need for the meeting with Mr. President has become particularly necessary due to the fact that the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) Meeting for November, 2013 planned for 9 and 10 December, 2013 was shelved for undisclosed reasons.
“Members commiserate with the Government and people of the Republic of South Africa who are currently mourning the death of the late icon and former president, Nelson Mandela, who left a legacy of quality and selfless leadership worthy of emulation.
“Finally, members remembered with affection, their former colleague, the late Governor Patrick Yakowa of Kaduna State who died one year ago and agreed to identify with the memorial events organised by the family.”
Amaechi refused to entertain any questions after reading the communiqué issued after the meeting attended by the governors of Borno, Lagos, Ekiti, Kwara, Adamawa, Zamfara, River Imo and Osun States.
The deputy governors of Oyo and Jigawa States also attended the meeting.
But one of the governors told THISDAY that the decision to seek to meet Jonathan was aimed at getting to the root of the allegation.
He said: “We have many stories, but we want to get to the root and end the rumours. Some people say that the money was diverted for political campaigns for the 2015 general election, but we want to find out from the president bearing in mind from where the letter came from, the Central Bank of Nigeria.”
However, in another reaction to Sanusi’s letter to the president, a member of the House of Representatives, Hon. Aliyu Ibrahim Gebi, said yesterday that both the government and NNPC should take a second look at the matter and ensure that the interest of the country prevails.
Gebi, who vouched for the integrity of Sanusi, said he is a meticulous person, who was beyond concocting lies in order to stir a political controversy, adding that this is why his claims about the unremitted crude oil proceeds should not be swept under the carpet.
“I think Malam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi is to be congratulated for several reasons, one of which is for him being as bold as he was to come out not only to voice it, but to even have documented and alerted the president on this,” Gebi said.
He also challenged the CBN governor to collate his facts and present them as conspicuously as he did with his initial claims, so that “lawmakers can step out and take the right and appropriate action.
“The Sanusi Lamido Sanusi that I know does not lie, cannot lie. He does not have the luxury of lying. It is in his nature. He will tell you the truth and will damn the consequences, so if truly this document did originate from him by way of him writing, then it must be the truth.”
Source: Thisday
