From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
Former President, Goodluck Jonathan, and the Emir of Kano, HRH, Muhammadu Sanusi II, clashed in Abuja, on Thursday, over the insistence of the latter that $49.8bn was allegedly embezzled during the administration of former President Jonathan.
Former President Jonathan said that despite the unsubstantiated alarm raised by Emir Sanusi, in 2014, when he was the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), he went ahead to make same claim in his submissions in a book, “Public Policy and Agent Interests: Perspectives from The Emerging World” edited the former Minister of Finance, Dr. Shamsuddeen Usman.
Speaking at the public presentation of the book in Abuja, on Thursday, Jonathan insisted that the claim was untrue, and could not be proved by Sanusi nor the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) and other independent auditors that investigated the matter.
Jonathan said: “I had the privilege of reading the book chapter by chapter, and I don’t quite agree with the contribution made by Emir Sanusi in a particular chapter. I need to say that I quite disagree with him. First of all, he was never sacked as CBN governor as he claimed in the book. I can rather say that he was suspended, and that was not because he blew the whistle that the federal government lost $49.8bn.
“The suspension was suggested by the FRC to pave the way for proper investigation on the alleged financial mismanagement which he raised. But somehow, the time was short. So, before we could finish the investigation, his tenure was over. Well, probably, we would have recalled him. But till today, I’m not convinced that $49.8bn could be taken from federal government coffers, and the government will still run its affairs smoothly as was the case then.
“Let me share a personal experience I had in Germany. The African Presidents and the European Union Presidents had a meeting in 2015. And during the meetings, we had some bilateral talks on the request of the then German Chancellor, Angela Merkel. I went there with some of my Ministers. Even before I could sit down, she raised the issue. She said, President Jonathan, we heard about $49.8bn missing in your public purse. What is happening? What a way of welcoming a guest!
“Then, I smiled and said, Madam Chancellor, the economy of Germany is very strong, if you lose $50bn, you will not notice it. But if Nigeria loses $50bn, the federal government cannot even pay salaries. Then she said, well, even for Germany, $50bn is a lot of money and she did not ask further questions.
“That year, our budget was $31.6bn. So, for a country that has a budget of $31.6bn, to lose about $50bn, and salaries were paid, then it’s a miracle. Nobody said anything afterwards. And more so, after they came up with the figures, first $49.8bn, later $20bn, later $12bn. So, I don’t even know the correct one.
“However, after the forensic audits, nobody was able to say $50bn was lost. The report they came up with was that there is $1.48bn that they couldn’t really give a proper account, and that NNPC should pay that money to the federation account.”
Meanwhile, when it was the turn of Emir Sanusi to speak, he said, “I know everyone is expecting me to respond to the remarks of the former President Jonathan, but I will not respond. When I was asked to make a speech, I told Dr. Usman that I will not speak about the issue out of respect for my boss, former President Jonathan.
“I feel that it’s inappropriate for this to turn into a debate. It’s not about me or the former President, it’s really about Dr. Usman and his book. I always knew my chapter would be controversial when Dr. Usman asked me to write about it.
“I told him that the topic is so similar to the content of my book. But I will make a few remarks. First of all, I will continue to respect my boss, former President Jonathan. I do not have any grudges against him or anyone. I left the CBN some years ago and immediately became the Emir of Kano. I was dethroned a few years after, and was re-enthroned a few years after, and I remain grateful to Allah for what He has done in my life.
“Expectedly, we go through difficulties and challenges, and misunderstandings. That’s why we are humans and Nigerians. But the most important thing for me is not about personalities. I think what comes out of my chapter, in the book, is something that we all know, which is that, for decades, the Nigerian state has been captured by the elite class that sees the state as a site for rent extraction and not for development. This is the fact that has destroyed Nigeria.
“People get into office, and what they think of is how much they can make out of the state, rather than how they can use the state to serve the citizens. If we agree on that, we have no disagreements. Now, our memories, our issues, our incidents, they differ, but until Nigeria begins to change that attitude, we will continue to move round the circle.”
He commended the author for putting the book together, and was optimistic that the book will serve as a guide for generations to come on issues of policies and governance in Nigeria.
The book reviewer, Dr. Joe Abah, highlighted the points in different chapters of the book as written by different individuals including the Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, former Statistician General of the Federation, Dr. Yemi Kale, among several others.
Dr. Abah, who is the former Director General, Nigeria’s Bureau of Public Service Reforms, stressed that leadership is very important in the socioeconomic growth and development of any country, hence Nigeria will continue to witness developmental challenges until it fixes its leadership recruitment processes.
He observed that at the centre of Nigeria’s socio-economic challenges is the institution, and situations where people chase their selfish interest instead issues that promote the advancement of the state.
