Senate Gives 6 Days To Finance Ministry, OAGF, NSA To Explain Alleged ‘N7.5bn Secret Withdrawal’

The Ministry of Finance, Office of Accountant General of the Federation and Office of National Security Adviser were given till next week Tuesday to give explanation on alleged “secret withdrawal” of N7.5 billion from the two percent National Automotive Council Design and Development Council (NADDC) Levy Account domiciled with Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

The Senate Committee on Public Accounts gave this directive on Wednesday in Abuja.

Recall that the Committee had two weeks ago summoned the affected agencies to appear before it, but they failed to do so.

Presenting the details of the withdrawal before the Committee on Wednesday, the Director General of NADDC, Jelani Tukur, said that the agency had already written to the Minister of Finance, Ahmed Zainab and Accountant General of the Federation on the withdrawal of N3.7 billion as loan to NAFCON, withdrawal of N3.8 billion for security personnel car loan scheme and another withdrawal of N2.3 billion as loan to Steyrs Nigeria Limited .

He added that the agency had also written a letter to remind Niger Insurance Plc on the agreement reached on July 9th 2020 as ordered by the Committee .

The first letters written to the Minister of Finance and the Accountant General of the Federation on 23 April, 2021, were delivered to them on 26 April, 2021.

The second was written on 26th of April and delivered to the minister on 27th April while that of Accountant General of the Federation was delivered on 26th of April.

The Committee, chaired by Senator Mathew Urhoghide, said 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 account of NADDC, which is domiciled in CBN.

The lawmaker asked them to bring evidence of the approval when they are coming on Tuesday, adding that the money must be returned otherwise, the Committee would take drastic action on the issue at stake.

The query had said: “A total sum of N3,836,000,000.00 (Three billion, eight hundred and thirty-six million naira) was irregularly withdrawn from the 2% National Automotive Council Levy Account with the Central Bank of Nigeria, Abuja in 2 installments of N2,800,000,000 (in 2005) and N1,036,000,000.00 (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’).”