Alleged Missing $49.8bn: Senate Report Is Compromised – CNPP

The Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP) yesterday said the Senate report on the purportedly missing $49.8 billion crude oil revenue, which recommended that President Goodluck Jonathan should submit a supplementary budget, is unconstitutional.

Last week, the Senate Committee on Finance chaired by Senator Ahmed Makarfi (PDP, Kaduna) said President Jonathan should “prepare and present to the National Assembly, a supplementary budget to cover the sum of N90.693 billion for PMS subsidy for 2012 and the sum of N685.919 billion for kerosene subsidy expended without appropriation by the National Assembly”.

CNPP, which was reacting to part of the report of the committee’s investigation of the NNPC on the alleged missing oil revenue, said the above aspect of the committee’s report is retroactive.

CNPP spokesman, Osita Okechukwu said yesterday in Abuja that the Senate should not have missed the point that less than transparent as the expenditure of any amount without appropriation is an impeachable offense.

CNPP said it had gone through the Nigerian Constitution and could not see any section that mandated the Senate to make such unconstitutional and fraudulent recommendation.

“It is our candid opinion that the sanctity of the Appropriation Act must at all times be guarded jealously by the National Assembly, for the intendment of the appropriation process is for transparency, hierarchy of needs measurement and prioritization of items”, Okechukwu said.

The CNPP spokesman said the Senate in disregard of the rule of law, covertly issued a compromised report “that even forgot that the Minister of Finance and Coordinator of the Economy, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who had acknowledged after the inter-agency and ministerial reconciliation that $12.8 billion was not remitted to the Federation Account and hence missing”.

He then asked: “Has our Distinguished Senators also easily forgotten that the subsidy on kerosene was removed by late President Umaru Musa Yaradua when he discovered that it only benefits the oil cabal?”

“CNPP still contends that the Senate report is spurious, jaundiced and compromised and consequently the $20 billion dollars is still missing given available records”.