The Senate Committee on Public Accounts, has given the Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed; Accountant General of the Federation (AGF) Ahmed Idris and the National Security Adviser, (NSA), Major General Babagana Monguno (rtd), till next week Tuesday to explain the rationale behind secret withdrawal of =N=7.5bn from government coffers.
The money is two percent of the National Automotive Council Design & Development Council (NADDC) levy account domiciled with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
It would be recalled that two weeks ago, the committee summoned the heads of the affected agencies to appear before it but they failed to present themselves at the scheduled meeting on Wednesday, 28th April, 2021.
Presenting the details of the withdrawal before the committee on Wednesday, the Director General of NADDC, Jelani Tukur said that the agency had written to the minister and Accountant General of the Federation, on the withdrawal of =N=3.7 billion as loan to NAFCON, withdrawal of =N=3.8 billion for security personnel car loan scheme and another withdrawal of =N=2.3 billion as loan to Steyrs Nigeria Limited.
The DG said a letter of reminder was sent to Niger Insurance Plc on the agreement reached on July 9th 2020 as ordered by the committee.
Tukur disclosed that letters were written to the Minister and the Accountant General on April 23 April, 2021.
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The second was written to the Minister on 26th of April and was delivered to the Minister on 27th April while that of Accountant General of the Federation was delivered on 26th of April.
Chairman of the committee, Senator Matthew Urhoghide insisted that all parties involved in the withdrawal of money must be present by next week Tuesday and give the Committee assurance that the money will be returned to the NADDC’s Account which is domiciled in Central Bank.According to him, “they should bring evidence of the approval when they are coming on Tuesday, and the money must be returned otherwise, the committee will take a drastic action on the issue at stake.”
“A total sum of =N=3,836,000,000.00 (Three billion, eight hundred and thirty-six million naira) was irregularly withdrawn from the 2% National Automotive Council Levy Account with the Central Bank of Nigeria, Abuja in 2 installments of =N=2,800,000,000 (in 2005) and =N=1,036,000,000.00 (in 2006) by the Accountant-General of the Federation and the Federal Ministry of Finance as car loan to be granted for the Security Personnel Car Purchase Scheme Loan.
“The transaction was carried out by the Presidency in collaboration with the Bank of Industry, the Federal Ministry of Finance and the Accountant-General of the Federation without the involvement of NAC, the account owner.
“However the principal and the accrued interest from the fictitious loan have not been paid back nor are records available on the beneficiaries, agreement documents, moratorium, duration of the loan, the yearly interest rates accruable and how the fund will be paid back by the beneficiary.
“The Director General has been requested to intensify correspondence with the Honourable Minister of Finance, Accountant-General of the Federation and the Presidency to recover the fund (loan),” the query stated.
