The
Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, has said she is attending to the
advice by human rights lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), asking the
Federal Government to focus on recovering about $200bn outstanding
revenue instead of obtaining foreign loans.
Falana had in his
letter to the minister entitled, ‘Request for the collection of
outstanding revenue of $200bn withheld from the Federation Account or
stolen by looters’, threatened to sue the Federal Government if his
request was not taken seriously.
His letter had partly read, “In
the light of the foregoing, we are compelled to call on the Federal
Government to muster the political will and courage to recover the
aforesaid withheld or stolen wealth of not less than $200bn belonging to
the Nigerian people.
“However, if you refuse to accede to our
request we shall have no alternative than to initiate legal proceedings
at the Federal High Court with a view to restraining the Federal
Government from further plunging the nation into external indebtedness.”
The
minister, through her ministry’s Director, Legal Services, Mrs. Rhona
N. Dimude, replied Falana through a terse letter dated May 6, 2016 and
with reference number F/LEG/103016/15. The reply read, “I am directed
to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated February 12, 2016 on the
above mentioned subject and to inform you that the matter is receiving
attention. “Please accept the warm regards of the honourable minister.”
Falana
had in two letters dated February 12, 2016 and May 6, 2016 to the
minister, advised the Federal Government against plunging the nation
into more indebtedness by obtaining foreign loans.
He said
instead of “plunging the nation into more indebtedness” the Federal
Government should intensify efforts to recover some funds totaling about
$200bn which was either not remitted to the Federation Account or
stolen from the nation’s treasury.
Earlier in a letter dated
February 12, 2016 addressed to the minister, Falana had urged the
Federal Government to jettison its plan to take a loan of $2.5bn from
the World Bank and $1bn from the African Development Bank.
Falana
had then urged the Federal Government to explore alternative sources of
raising revenue to fund the 2016 budget “instead of increasing the
nation’s external debt of $64bn.”
He said in his fresh letter to
Adeosun that the minister had assured him that the issues raised in his
letter were receiving the attention of the Federal Government.
His
fresh letter was titled, “Request for the collection of outstanding
revenue of $200bn withheld from the Federation Account or stolen by
looters.”
He said, “In particular, we requested the Federal
Government to embark on the recovery of the revenue of $42bn withheld
from the Federation Account from 1999-2012 by some transnational oil
companies, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and other
agencies of the Federal Government.
“In your reply dated March
17, 2016 you assured us that the issues raised in our letter were
receiving the attention of the Federal Government.
“We were therefore surprised to learn that the administration had applied to the Chinese Government for another loan of $2bn.
“In
urging the Federal Government to desist from taking the loan of $2bn
from China or any other country, we are compelled to advise the Federal
Government to intensify efforts to recover the nation’s wealth which has
been criminally diverted by a handful of local and foreign looters.”
He urged the Federal Government to direct the relevant agencies and the anti-graft bodies to collect the stolen wealth.
Among
the recoverable revenue, according to Falana, is $20.2bn which the
National Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative said in its audit
report covering 1999-2012 were withheld for the Federation Account by
the NNPC, some oil companies and certain agencies of the Federal
Government.
Falana also pointed out the $7bn apportioned from
the external reserve by the Central Bank of Nigeria to 14 banks in 2008
and N600bn ($4bn) given to the banks as bailout in 2008.
He urged
the Federal Government to direct the NNPC to remit to the Federation
Account the sum of $9.6bn which the corporation was said to have
recovered in over-deducted tax benefits from joint venture partners on
major capital projects and oil swap contracts.
He asked the
government to collect the outstanding sum of $1.9bn which Mobil
Producing Nigeria Unlimited allegedly ought to pay for the renewal of
three oil blocks.
He also urged the government to pursue the
promise the United States of America and Switzerland made to repatriate
$458m and $321m respectively looted by the late military Head of State,
Gen. Sani Abacha.
Falana also recalled that on February 20, 2014,
former President Goodluck Jonathan “fired the then Central Bank
Governor, Alhaji Lamido Sanusi for having the temerity to expose the
NNPC for not remitting $20bn to the Federation Account.”
He asked
the government to recover the sum of $1.8bn which was exposed by the
auditors who indicted the NNPC for withholding the money after an
investigation.
He also asked the government to promptly recover
the outstanding balance of $3.65bn out of the $5.2bn which the Nigerian
Communications Commission imposed on some telecommunications companies
for contravening the law on compulsory registration of all SIM cards.
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