Former minister of finance Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has reacted to the allegation of “illegal diversion of the late head of state Sani Abacha funds.
Okonjo-Iweala issued a statement via her media adviser
Paul C Nwabuikwu describing the allegations as baselles.
The former minister stated that this level of persecution and
harassment unprecedented, signals danger of fighting
corruption in office.
Borno state government reportedly made this accusation
and asked Okonjo-Iweala to account for the N3.2 billion
realised in support of the “Safe School Initiative” under the
immediate past administration of former president Goodluck
Jonathan.
The ex-minister was also accused of approving the transfer
of at least N61.4b from funds recovered from Abacha to the
office of the Sambo Dasuki.
Read the statement below:
“As part of the campaign of falsehood against former
Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala by Edo
Governor, Adams Oshiomhole and other powerful and
corrupt interests, another baseless story has been published
by some online media. To achieve their evil propaganda
objective of tarnishing her name, these evil elements have
distorted the contents of a memo dated January 20, 2015 in
which the former Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-
Iweala responded to a request by the former National
Security Adviser, Col Ibrahim Dasuki (retired) for funds to
prosecute the terror war against Boko Haram.
Here are the facts:
· The central responsibility of the Minister of Finance IS to find
sources of funding for the financing of approved national
priorities such as security, job creation and infrastructure.
· It will be recalled that throughout 2014, there were public
complaints by the military hierarchy to President Goodluck
Jonathan about the inadequacy of funds to fight the anti-terror
war in the North East, resulting in Boko Haram making gains
and even taking territories. A lot of the criticism was directed at
the Federal Ministry of Finance under Dr Okonjo-Iweala which
was accused of not doing enough to find funds for the
operations.
READ ALSO: GEJ, Okonjo-Iweala Illegally Transferred
N61.4b To Dasuki
· In fact, the Ministry, on several occasions, had to call press
conferences to provide details of budgetary spending on the
military, to show, against the background of limited resources
and other urgent national priorities, that it was doing its best on
funding security.
· It was about this time that some new Abacha funds of about
$322m were returned with another $700m still expected to be
returned.
This is not to be confused with the Abacha funds returned in
2005-2006 under the Obasanjo government whose use for
developmental purposes was monitored by the World Bank as
earlier explained by Dr Okonjo-Iweala).
· Former President Jonathan set up a Committee comprising of
the former Minister of Justice, former NSA and the former
Minister of Finance to determine how best to use both the
returned and expected funds for development.
· The NSA made a case for using the returned funds for urgent
security operations since, he noted, there cannot be any
development without peace and security. Based on this, a
decision was taken to deploy about $322m for the military
operations, while the expected $700m would be applied for
development programmes as originally conceived.
READ ALSO: Okonjo-Iweala Indicted In Fresh N3.2bn
Scandal
· Following the discussions and based on the urgency of the
NSA’s memo, Dr Okonjo-Iweala requested the President to
approve the transfer of the requested amount to the NSA’s
Office for the specified purposes.
But, as captured in the memo, she insisted on three conditions:
a. only a part, not the entire Abacha funds would be spent on
the arms; the rest would be invested in developmental projects
as originally conceived
b. the money was to be treated as borrowed funds which would
be paid back as soon as possible
c. the NSA’s office was to account for the spending to the
President who was the Commander in Chief, given the fact that
the Minister of Finance is not part of the security architecture
and does not participate in the Security Council.
The attempt to link the former Minister’s name to any misuse of
these funds for any purpose other than security as far as she
understood it is totally false and cannot stand.”
Paul C Nwabuikwu describing the allegations as baselles.
The former minister stated that this level of persecution and
harassment unprecedented, signals danger of fighting
corruption in office.
Borno state government reportedly made this accusation
and asked Okonjo-Iweala to account for the N3.2 billion
realised in support of the “Safe School Initiative” under the
immediate past administration of former president Goodluck
Jonathan.
The ex-minister was also accused of approving the transfer
of at least N61.4b from funds recovered from Abacha to the
office of the Sambo Dasuki.
Read the statement below:
“As part of the campaign of falsehood against former
Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala by Edo
Governor, Adams Oshiomhole and other powerful and
corrupt interests, another baseless story has been published
by some online media. To achieve their evil propaganda
objective of tarnishing her name, these evil elements have
distorted the contents of a memo dated January 20, 2015 in
which the former Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-
Iweala responded to a request by the former National
Security Adviser, Col Ibrahim Dasuki (retired) for funds to
prosecute the terror war against Boko Haram.
Here are the facts:
· The central responsibility of the Minister of Finance IS to find
sources of funding for the financing of approved national
priorities such as security, job creation and infrastructure.
· It will be recalled that throughout 2014, there were public
complaints by the military hierarchy to President Goodluck
Jonathan about the inadequacy of funds to fight the anti-terror
war in the North East, resulting in Boko Haram making gains
and even taking territories. A lot of the criticism was directed at
the Federal Ministry of Finance under Dr Okonjo-Iweala which
was accused of not doing enough to find funds for the
operations.
READ ALSO: GEJ, Okonjo-Iweala Illegally Transferred
N61.4b To Dasuki
· In fact, the Ministry, on several occasions, had to call press
conferences to provide details of budgetary spending on the
military, to show, against the background of limited resources
and other urgent national priorities, that it was doing its best on
funding security.
· It was about this time that some new Abacha funds of about
$322m were returned with another $700m still expected to be
returned.
This is not to be confused with the Abacha funds returned in
2005-2006 under the Obasanjo government whose use for
developmental purposes was monitored by the World Bank as
earlier explained by Dr Okonjo-Iweala).
· Former President Jonathan set up a Committee comprising of
the former Minister of Justice, former NSA and the former
Minister of Finance to determine how best to use both the
returned and expected funds for development.
· The NSA made a case for using the returned funds for urgent
security operations since, he noted, there cannot be any
development without peace and security. Based on this, a
decision was taken to deploy about $322m for the military
operations, while the expected $700m would be applied for
development programmes as originally conceived.
READ ALSO: Okonjo-Iweala Indicted In Fresh N3.2bn
Scandal
· Following the discussions and based on the urgency of the
NSA’s memo, Dr Okonjo-Iweala requested the President to
approve the transfer of the requested amount to the NSA’s
Office for the specified purposes.
But, as captured in the memo, she insisted on three conditions:
a. only a part, not the entire Abacha funds would be spent on
the arms; the rest would be invested in developmental projects
as originally conceived
b. the money was to be treated as borrowed funds which would
be paid back as soon as possible
c. the NSA’s office was to account for the spending to the
President who was the Commander in Chief, given the fact that
the Minister of Finance is not part of the security architecture
and does not participate in the Security Council.
The attempt to link the former Minister’s name to any misuse of
these funds for any purpose other than security as far as she
understood it is totally false and cannot stand.”
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