Senate to Probe CBN for Unauthorized spending
The Senate is set to order its Joint
Committee on Finance, Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters to
commence a probe into perceived loss of revenue into the Consolidated
Revenue Fund of the Federation through the breach of the Fiscal
Responsibility Act (FRA) as well as alleged breach of public procurement
laws and regulations by Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Nigerian
National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and other government agencies.
The directive is fallout of a motion to
be moved by Senator Ita Enang (Akwa-Ibom North-east), alleging breach of
Section 80 (1) of the 1999 Constitution, which stipulates that all
revenues raised or received by the federation shall be paid into the
Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation.
The motion is also aimed at determining
why the balance of their operating surplus is not paid into the
Consolidated Revenue Fund and why affected agencies have failed to
establish a general reserve fund for the purpose of allocating one-fifth
of their operating surplus at the end of the year to the Consolidated
Revenue Fund as stipulated in Section 22 (1) and (2) and Section 23 (1)
of FRA.
The committee is also expected to
determine whether funds spent by agencies listed under FRA exceeded 20
per cent of their revenue surplus and if it is so, where and when the
remaining 80 per cent operating surplus was paid.
The committee will also determine
whether these agencies are not bound to submit their procurement to the
Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP), which has the responsibility to vet
and issue authorised certificates before going ahead with such
procurement.
The motion was spurred by the alleged
abuse of office by CBN which is believed to have derailed from its core
functions to other responsibilities such as donations of a whopping N50
billion to tertiary institutions when in the real sense, its duties are
to ensure monetary and price stability, issue legal tender currency in
Nigeria, maintain external reserves to safeguard the international value
of the legal tender currency, promote a sound financial system in
Nigeria, and act as banker and provider of economic and financial advice
to the federal government.
Other factors giving rise to the motion
include the yet-to-be-remitted $10.8 billion by NNPC as well as N255
million spent by the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) to purchase
armoured cars for the Minister of Aviation, Ms. Stella Oduah.
Enang, had in the written motion meant
to have been presented on Wednesday, but which was stood down as a
result of the executive session held by the senate over the defection
letter of 11 senators, added that CBN had in breach of the constitution
and FRA, failed to pay its operating surplus to the Consolidated Revenue
Fund for appropriation by the National Assembly and instead had
cultivated the habit of awarding contracts using such funds.
He listed the contracts that had already
been awarded as well as proposed projects by CBN to include N98 billion
for International Convention Centre, Abuja; a N14 billion project in
University of Lagos; N12. 9 billion contract in University of Maiduguri;
N11.3 billion project in Nigeria Defence Academy; N10.2 billion
contract in the University of Port Harcourt; N9.5 billion project in
University of Jos; and N6.8 billion contract award in University of
Nigeria, among several others.
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