BEVERLY HILLS, February 20, (THEWILL) – The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has tracked N388.304bn London-Paris Club refunds to two accounts opened by the Nigeria Governors Forum, NGF, with seven governors having questions to answer regarding an alleged diversion of part of the funds.
The anti-graft agency is said to have uncovered N19bn in one of the accounts, while the other is a domiciliary account which contains a yet be specified amount of money.
Preliminary report on the management of the refunds has it that one of those invited for interrogation has admitted handing over a huge sum of money to a principal officer of the National Assembly after changing it into dollars.
A source, who pleaded anonymity, was reported by The Nation as saying that EFCC detectives discovered that while about 2 per cent of the funds was paid to consultants who allegedly assisted in computing what was due to each state, 3 per cent was shared by some governors under “curious circumstances”.
“The detectives have uncovered the two accounts opened in the name of the NGF and the signatories to same.
“We are looking into circumstances behind such huge deposits from London-Paris Club refunds into these accounts.
“The payment of 2 per cent of the refunds to consultants and 3 per cent to some governors which was rated as “curious” by investigators have been confirmed. We also discovered that some of the governors nominated these consultants,” the source said.
Declining to name the seven governors, he stressed that the details will be released as soon as the investigation is concluded.
The source said one of those questioned actually admitted that he changed some of the funds into dollars and handed it over to a principal officer of the National Assembly, even as he insisted that the EFCC had no agenda against the governors,
His words, “It has no basis to run the NGF down at all, but you should know that the Presidency is interested in how these London-Paris Club refunds were spent.
“We know the governors have immunity, but certainly NGF does not enjoy such constitutional protection. We are looking at what informed the transfer of such funds into the accounts of the NGF and for what purposes.
“Once the purposes are in line with statutory financial regulations and the EFCC is satisfied, the case is closed. But where there are cases of diversion and stealing of public funds, the law will take its course.”
The Federal Government released N388.304bn of the N522.74 billion funds to 35 states as refunds of overdeductions on London-Paris Club loans.
States on top of the list with huge reimbursements are those controlled by the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. The big earners are Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Rivers, Delta, Katsina, Kaduna, Lagos, Imo, Jigawa, Borno, Niger, Bauchi,and Benue.
Only Kano State and the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, did not benefit from the reimbursement.
Ondo was only paid 50 per cent of its refunds (N6,513,392,932.28) because of leadership change in the state which will soon lead to the inauguration of the Governor-elect, Mr Rotimi Akeredolu.
A breakdown of the list of top beneficiaries of the refunds is as follows:
Akwa Ibom – N14,500,000,000.00;
Bayelsa – N14,500,000,000.00;
Delta — N14,500,000,000.00;
Katsina – N14,500,000,000.00;
Lagos – N14,500,000,000.00;
Rivers – N14,500,000,000.00;
Kaduna – N14,362,416,363.24;
Borno – N13,654,138,849.49;
Bauchi – N12,792,664,403.93;
Benue – N12,749,689,453.61;
Sokoto—N11,980,499,096.97;
Osun– N11,744,237,793.56;
Anambra– N11,386,281,466.35;
Edo– N11,329,495,462.04;
Cross River – N11,300,139,741.28;
Kogi – N11,211,573,328.19;
and Kebbi – N11,118,149,054.10.
The Federal Government reached a conditional agreement to pay 25 per cent of the amounts claimed, subject to a cap of N14.5 billion to any given state.
Balances due thereafter will be revisited when fiscal conditions improve.
“Mr. President’s overriding concern is for the welfare of the Nigerian people. considering the fact that many States are owing salaries and pension, causing considerable hardship,” the government said.
Meanwhile, a source in the Presidency, who spoke in confidence, was also quoted by The newspaper as saying: “President Muhammadu Buhari has lived up to his pledge to ease salary crises in all the states by releasing N388.304bn to 35 states.
“The agreement between the Federal Government and the governors was very clear. While 50 per cent of the amount released shall be used to offset outstanding salary and pension arrears, the remaining 50 per cent would be used for the payment of other obligations.
“Some governors have however reneged on this agreement. Security reports available to the Presidency showed that Governor Ayodele Fayose paid only one month out of eight-month salary arrears.
“The governor went ahead to pay a curious 13-month salary to Ekiti workers. Yet, he got N8.877bn refund.
“Instead of accounting for what he used the loan refund for, he attacked the Federal Government on hardship in the country. The relevant agencies are monitoring development in Ekiti and some states.”
Another source in government responded to a question thus: “It is however unfortunate that some governors underdeclared the refunds made to them. Some of them were also discovered to be giving spurious analysis to cover up the actual figures.
“In fact, some states changed the agreement overnight. A state said the President asked states to use at least 25 per cent of their London and Paris Club refuns to offset salary arrears.”
