According to the Chairman of Public Accounts Committee, Dr. Ahmed Lawan, who read the report at plenary, the regimes of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, late Musa Yar’Adua and the incumbent, Goodluck Jonathan, were indicted.
Senators, who contributed to the debate on the report, alleged sheer executive recklessness and misappropriation of funds contrary to Section 80 (2) of the 1999 constitution as amended.
Consequently, they called on the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to investigate accordingly.
The accounts discovered to have been misappropriated were: Development of Natural Resources Account, Derivation and Ecology, which belongs to the Federal Government as well as the Stabilization Account, which belongs to the three tiers of government.
Of particular concern to the committee was the Special Account Funds, which it noted was misappropriated 100 per cent.
It noted that rather than use the funds for the purpose it was intended, the then presidents converted it to a special purse where loans were given to government agencies, states and local governments as well as private companies.
For instance, it uncovered that out of the total funds that accrued into the special account funds, a whopping N580 billion was released as loans during the regime of Obasanjo between 2002 and 2007.
Also, N2 billion was granted to Gitto construction company in 2005 while N3.7 billion was granted to the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the purchase of a Chancery in Tokyo, Japan in 2004.
In the same light, a N5.7 billion loan was granted to the Ministry of Power and Steel as payment of disengagement benefits of steel workers in 2005.
The sum of N10 billion was given as loan for payment of October to December 2005 arrears of monetized fringe benefits in all Federal Government parastatals in 2006 and another N750 million released for development of Abuja Downtown Mall on 2007.
Other gross abuses observed included the N864,725,036.00 loan granted to National Health Insurance for National ID Card production on April 18, 2005 amongst others.
Under the Derivation and Ecological Accounts, N10 million was given to the Niger State Government for building of an abattoir in Bida in March 2003, and N800 million used for resurfacing of the runway in Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano in January 2003.
From the Stabilization Account, N12 billion loan was granted to Ghana and Sao Tome & Principe on September 22, 2004 and May 7, 2007; N142.6 million given to Gong Publishing Company as loan of the debt owned by local government councils; and N2.8 billion loan granted to pay Federal Government’s 50 per cent contribution to the Phase 1 of the pioneer car finance scheme for public servants in para-military agencies on May 22, 2007.
Unfortunately, the sum of N347.997 billion is yet to be recovered from various loans beneficiaries.
In his remarks, the President of the Senate, David Mark, blamed the misused of the fund on lack of clear guidelines for disbursement of the funds, adding that the disbursement of the fund has been at the discretion of the President.
Contributing, Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu, posited that the public should not read meaning into the probe as it goes beyond partisanship, insisting that funds were not to be spent for purpose other than specified without a recourse to the National Assembly.
In his submission, the Leader of the Senate, Senator Ndoma Egba, said that the report indicted both the executive and the legislature.
Ndoma-Egba opined that it should serve as a wake up call for the National Assembly to be more serious in its oversight activities.
The Deputy Leader, Abdul Ningi, also had this to say: “As for me, this is crass executive recklessness and legislative indifference.
“As a Nigerian, this is our commonwealth that was mismanaged.
“This is a sad day for Nigeria.”
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