Goodluck Jonathan, the former president of Nigeria, has denied a claim made in his most recent book by Muhammadu Sanusi II, the 16th Emir of Kano, about a purported $49.8 billion loss that transpired while Jonathan was in office.
A financial loss of that size would have had a significant impact on the nation’s ability to meet payroll obligations, Jonathan noted at the book launch event for “Public Policy and Agent Interests: Perspectives from The Emerging World” in Abuja. He also highlighted the potentially dire consequences for the workforce. Eyes Of Lagos reports,
Jonathan made his comments in direct response to claims made by Emir Sanusi that Nigeria’s economy suffered as a result of Jonathan’s financial mismanagement. Shamsuddeen Usman, a former finance minister, edited the book.
Jonathan remarked, “I need to explain why I don’t quite agree with him.” He brought up Sanusi’s assertion that he was fired for disclosing the purported $49.8 billion loss, to which Jonathan said, “That’s not quite correct.” It wasn’t like he got fired. He was put on leave.
The former president further mentioned that time restrictions prevented the Financial Reporting Council of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) from conducting a comprehensive investigation into the claims. “His reign had already ended before we could complete. Most likely, we would have given him a call back,” he clarified.
“Until today, I’m not convinced that the federal government lost $49.8 billion,” Jonathan said, expressing his skepticism over the purported $49.8 billion loss.
He pointed out that the amounts associated with the claims were greatly, saying, “$20 billion, $12 billion, and $49.8 billion at first. I’m not even sure which is the right one, thus
Moreover, he said that no one could verify that $50 billion was lost after performing forensic audits.
In closing, he said, “The report they came up with stated that NNPC should pay that money to the federation account because they couldn’t really give a proper account for $1.48 billion.”
