Sanusi Cannot be Trusted With Figures. – Falana

A Nigerian civil rights lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Mr. Femi Falana had in a letter dated February 7, 2014, requested an audit of the Federation Account, citing the disagreement between the suspended Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, and NNPC over unaccounted for oil revenue.

In the letter, Falana noted that the disgraced Sanusi had raised the alarm that the NNPC failed to remit $49.8 billion to the Federation Account, stressing that after reconciliation, both parties agreed that the figure was $10.8 billion.

The letter however stated that while the NNPC said the $10.8 billion was not missing but was used for subsidy and pipeline repairs, Sanusi later changed the missing figure to $12 billion and finally to $20 billion.

Falana recalled that during mass protests against the removal of fuel subsidy in 2012, Sanusi had disclosed that N1.3 trillion was spent on subsidy payments but when one of his deputies at the CBN appeared before the Lawan Farouk-led House of Representatives' Committee, he disclosed that subsidy payments had gulped N1.6 trillion.

He further told OAuGF that after the various subsidy probes, it was discovered that N2.3 trillion was actually spent on subsidy payments, contrary to the submissions by the CBN.

Falana stated that it was obvious that the CBN, which keeps the Federation Account, could not produce a reliable statement of the account and urged the OAuGF to audit the account.

“Since neither the Finance Minister nor the Finance Committee of the Senate is empowered to reconcile conflicting figures pertaining to the finances of the government, we request you to audit the Federation Account in line with Section 85 of the constitution,” Falana said.

He stressed that “unless the audit is carried out without further delay, the CBN and the NNPC will continue to make claims and counter-claims on the state of the economy, to the embarrassment of the nation.”

Falana also threatened to apply to the Federal High Court for an order of mandamus to compel the OAuGF to carry out the audit if it failed to respond to his request within two weeks of the receipt of the letter