How Okonjo-Iweala, Nenadi Usman, others supervised abuse of over N1 trillion special funds Last week Thursday in Beijing, China, President Goodluck Jonathan detailed, in an interview with Chinese television, CCTV, why Nigeria must immediately move away from its perilous dependence on oil and gas as the nation’s sole economic mainstay. The president said the increasing utilization of shale gas and other alternative sources of energy by the United States and other advanced oil importing nations of the world was a matter of concern for Nigeria. “That is why we have to increase the pace of diversifying our economy and move our country away from dependence on the oil and gas industry,” the president told his host. “We must work towards greater industrialization; add more value to our agricultural products; develop our solid minerals potentials and other sectors of our economy before the time comes when crude oil may no longer be dominant as a global source of energy. ”How the president intends to achieve that new goal is unclear. But while the clearly familiar declaration offered a promising new zeal, it also shoved back to focus what has turned out a grand deception by Nigeria’s top economists and officials – one that lasted 10 years and left three of the nation’s most vital savings badly depleted. The ruse, noted in a recent Senate investigation, has been about officials publicly highlighting why Nigeria must grow other sectors in a rapidly unpredictable global economic order. Yet, behind the scenes, same officials consistently ruin the very mechanisms that should help achieve that goal. One account needed to address the president’s concern is the Natural Resources Account, created to hold savings needed for the speedy development of solid mineral sector. But over a span of 10 years, those savings have been frittered by the same officials who publicly promote its usefulness, the Senate report stated. Mr. Jonathan and his two predecessors, Olusegun Obasanjo and Umar Yar’Adua, bear responsibilities for the violation. The report showed how N1.06 trillion stipulated for crucial economic needs, was signed off illegally by the three administrations to fund what lawmakers called “frivolities” that stretched from a phantom new mall to religious pilgrimage. Six finance ministers superintended over those abuses. Of the 44 total illicit withdrawals between them, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the current finance minister and one of Nigeria’s finest public officials, renowned for her advocacy for disciplined spending, approved at least 22, PREMIUM TIMES can report. Her immediate successor, Nenadi Usman, now a senator, approved 10; their predecessor, Adamu Ciroma, approved seven, while the remaining three ministers -Shamsudeen Usman (current National Planning minister), Mansur Muhtar (current alternate Executive Director, World Bank) and Olusegun Aganga (current Trade and Investment minister) shared the remaining five. The funds, illegally drawn by each of the ministers, were meant to help accelerate the exploration for natural resources to quicken the diversification of national economic base from oil and gas, as well as provide a cushion against the volatility of oil prices at the international market. A third account was to help address environmental emergencies. But the report showed how, for years, the ministers assured a distrustful public how passionate the government was about achieving those goals while behind closed doors, they abused the opportunities for realizing those objectives. Since the findings were first made public, PREMIUM TIMES has sought clarifications on how the disbursements were made and has repeatedly pressed the finance minister, Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala, who presided over the largest withdrawals between her first and second tours of office, for clarification to no avail.Separately, correspondents have put forward enquiries to the minister as well as her spokesperson, Paul Nwabuikwu, at media briefings, through emailed enquiries and telephone calls, asking why she failed to bar the leakages and instead took the lead furthering it. Hmmmmmm!
Posted on: Sat, 20 Jul 2013 22:03:48 +0000
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