It sounds so bizarre that allocations to some Federal Government agencies in excess of N114 billion have been lost in transit. But for a parliamentary inquest, the public would not even have known this. For President Goodluck Jonathan, always dismissive of the abysmal level of corruption in the country, this matter presents further evidence. Since March 14, the House of Representatives Committee on Public Accounts has been quizzing officials of the Budget Office, Central Bank of Nigeria, Police Force, Ministry of Police Affairs and Office of the Head of Service of the Federation on this tangled skein.
At the behest of the President, Lamido Sanusi, the suspended Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria, had remitted N19.7 billion to the Ministry of Police Affairs, for the police to buy “armoured helicopters and security equipment.” Sanusi stated this in his reply to the government’s allegation of financial recklessness against him. Curiously, both the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar, and the ministry, told the House committee that they did not see the cash.