The All Progressives Congress (APC) yesterday gave a fresh insight to the alleged mismanagement of public funds under the watch of former President Goodluck Jonathan. According to the party, at least N11.09 trillion was either stolen or could not be accounted for by officials of the previous administration.
But in a quick riposte, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that was the ruling party then, dismissed the claim and accused the governing party of playing to the gallery. The APC’s allegation, contained in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai |Mohammed, came just as the Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) urged the newly-appointed Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, to recover $11.6 billion of Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) funds that were not remitted to the Federation Account. The APC, in the statement, in which it rallied support for the efforts by President Muhammadu Buhari to recover stolen public funds, urged him to recover the N11.09 trillion from officials who served his predecessor.
The party described as “spine-chilling and mind-boggling” the massive looting of the nation’s treasury by public officials in the previous PDP administration. APC listed the alleged looted or unaccounted funds as: N3.8 trillion out of the N8.1 trillion earned from crude oil sales (2012-2015) withheld by the NNPC; $2.1 billion from the Excess Crude Account (ECA) unaccounted for; Department of Petroleum Resources’ unremitted N109.7 billion royalty from oil firms; $6 billion allegedly looted by some Jonathan ministers.
Others are: 160 million barrels of crude worth $13.9 billion lost between 2009 and 2012; $15 million from botched arms deal yet to be returned to Nigeria; $13 billion in NLNG dividends mostly unaccounted for; N30 billion rice waiver and N183 billion unaccounted for at the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC). According to the governing party, these ‘missing’ funds constituted a tip of the iceberg as they are mostly from the oil sector.
“The level of looting that went on in other sectors is better imagined, hence the need for all Nigerians to rally around the Buhari administration to recover the loots, bring the looters to justice and put in place measures to prevent such looting in the future,” it said.
The party added that only the total recovery of the funds would be acceptable to Nigerians. According to APC, anyone who attempts, either by deeds or words, to sabotage the recovery efforts is not a patriot and deserves nothing but public opprobrium. The party said: “It is absolutely gratifying that Nigerians are vehemently opposed to the few who would rather have the government of the day turn a blind eye to the looted funds and, in their words, carry on with the process of governance.
“Truly, what sort of governance can go on if the billions of naira in a few hands are not recovered? In the first instance, the government needs every kobo of the funds it can muster to bring about the change it has promised Nigerians. “Secondly, leaving such hair-raising funds in the hands of the few looters is dangerous, because they can use the funds to destabilise any government. In fact, no one will be surprised if the looters use their dirty funds to sponsor public demonstrations against the government’s determination to recover the funds.
“Thirdly, allowing those who privatised the commonwealth to get away is offering a thumbsup for looting. No responsible government will do that.” But the PDP dismissed the allegations and accused the APC of bandying imaginary figures against the previous administration to suit a heinous purpose.
The party, in a statement yesterday by its National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Olisa Metuh, urged the governing party to get serious with its fight against corruption by investigating and prosecuting corrupt persons, while moving on with the demands of governance, especially in fulfilling the numerous campaign promises which made Nigerians to vote it into office, especially at the centre. It said: “In trying to escalate their stock-intrade of lies, wild allegations and falsehood, the APC failed to understand that their baseless fabrications are capable of throwing an unsuspecting nation into chaos.
“The spate of fabrications by Lai Mohammed has become a sickening source of worry for well-meaning Nigerians, including those in his party.” However, as the ruling and opposition parties bickered over allegations of mismanagement of public funds by the Jonathan administration, NEITI yesterday told Kachikwu to recover the unremitted $11.6 billion of the NLNG funds into the Federation Account.
NEITI gave the charge in a statement issued by its Director of Communications, Dr. Orji Ogbonnaya Orji, as it commended the restructuring going on the oil sector. It said the on-going reform at the NNPC was earlier researched and suggested by it. NEITI also welcomed efforts by the president to reposition the economy through some reforms initiated by the current administration.
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