House Moves To Probe Misappropriation Of $67bn Foreign Reserve

SAN FRANCISCO, January 30, (THEWILL) - The ongoing war of attrition between the Federal Government and former Minister of State for Education and Vice President for Africa at the World Bank, Dr. Oby Ezekwesili, may linger for a while as the House of Representatives, Wednesday, mandated its joint committee on finance and appropriation to investigate the alleged misappropriation of $67bn excess crude oil account.

The joint committees have been given six weeks to report back to the House.

It will be recalled that the former World Bank Vice President for Africa recently alleged that late President Umaru Yar'Adua and incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan's administration squandered $ 67 billion from the foreign exchange reserve in the last six years.

The House took the decision after adopting a motion sponsored by Hon. Umar Bature ( PDP-Sokoto) which was unanimously adopted without debate.

Leading debate on the motion, Bature, who is the chairman of the Committee on Interior, said the amount in question was a direct earnings from oil since 2007.

The lawmaker expressed worry that the Federal Government, instead, responded to the allegation by accusing the former minister of misappropriating N458 billion between 2006 and 2007.

Since the former minister made the allegations, the Minister of information and National Orientation, Mr. Labaran Maku, and the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe, have been challenging her on the issue.

Okupe had reportedly described the allegation by Ezekwesili as malicious and a deliberate dissemination of falsehood.

He also described the former vice president at the World Bank on African Affairs as an "unrepentant liar."

Maku, on his part, had dismissed Ezekwesili's allegation and challenged her to account for the billions that were allocated to the education sector under her watch.