A –Lagos based lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana,? has alleged? that N2.055 trillion was illegally withdrawn from the Federation Account by the Central Bank of Nigeria ,CBN, and paid to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation NNPC and other marketers in 2011 on the illegal recommendation of the Federal Ministries of Finance and Petroleum Resources.
Falana, who stated this in a petition to the Chairman, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Mr. Ibrahim Lamorde, also claimed that? the said payment was? a contravention of the Appropriation Act 2011 which had provided N245 billion for fuel subsidy in 2011.
Falana is therefore asking Lamorde to take appropriate action on the matter without further delay
The petition reads in part, “In his interview published in the TELL Magazine of February 27, 2012 the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan condemned the scandalous payment when he said: “… Then we will find out, between NNPC, Ministry of Finance and CBN, what has happened. A number of things happened because this figure of N2.3 trillion, (the CBN) is supposed to raise alarm because CBN is part of the government.
“If, for instance, in 2010 you spent N500 billion for the same thing, then by the middle of 2011 you were already doing N1 trillion, you should raise alarm for government to react. You cannot continue paying and paying. Assuming there is no probe (on the fuel subsidy payment) by the House of Representatives, (will the CBN) just keep quiet? Then the figure can rise from N500 billion to N10 trillion and you just pay! So we will find out from petroleum, finance and CBN why the figures are changing and where.”
“Since N245 billion was appropriated for fuel subsidy in 2011 you will agree with us that the payment of the additional sum of N2.055 billion cannot be justified in law. We are therefore compelled to request you to investigate and prosecute the officials of the Central Bank of Nigeria, the Federal Ministries of Finance and Petroleum Resources who authorized the withdrawal of over N2 trillion from the Federation Account without appropriation by the National Assembly.”
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