The skepticism of Nigerian House of Representatives over the whereabouts of $10 billion said to be missing from the coffers of the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) was made open yesterday. They lawmakers also demanded the status of another $6.1 billion paid by the ONSA into the account of one of its contractors. The $10 billion was said to have been withdrawn from the ONSA account without diligently following laid down financial rules.
However, standing in defense for National Security Adviser (NSA), Babagana Mungono, the Director of Finance and Administration Brigadier Gen. Jafaru Mohammed, said the office did no wrong in its financial dealings. At the resumed public hearing of the House’s ad hoc committee on recovered loots and assets of government, chairman of the committee, Adejaro Adeogun, assured that the committee remains committed to unearthing all illegal transactions and assets in the custody of different government agencies.
He regretted that most government agencies do not follow statutory rules and procedures for handling recovered funds and assets.
The committee found that there were no records of non-cash items like speedboats, assorted vehicles, drilling machines and others recovered by the police while the presidential assets recovery committee lasted.
Deputy Inspector General of Police J.O. Egbunike, who represented Inspector General of Police, Baba Alkali, agreed with the lawmakers on poor record keeping by the police and called for reforms.
He said the records were not available because some serving and retired police officers had hidden them. He further asked the committee to invite the people in question to appear and shed more light on the issues raised.
The panel thereafter asked him to reappear on Friday this week with the documents for further hearing.
