Sanusi Was Right: Ministry Of Police Affairs Benefited From CBN N20bn Funds

Premium Times conducted an investigation into the scandalous case of N19.7bn released by the Central Bank of Nigeria for the purchase of police equipment, and concluded that the Ministry of Police Affairs (MPA) benefited from CBN funds as claimed by suspended governor Sanusi Lamido Sanusi. According to Premium Times, the MPA deliberately misled the House of Representatives in simulating ignorance of a presidential directive mandating the CBN to provide N19.7bn for police equipment, and in denying receipt of the funds. The MPA permanent secretary, James Obiegbu, claimed the ministry’s non-involvement with the funds when the House committee on public account, chaired by Solomon Olamilekan, reviewed the disbursement of the money earlier this week.

Sanusi Lamido Sanusi. Credit: Al Jazeera

Two weeks ago Sanusi had revealed the details about the expenditures in a statement in response to government's allegation of financial recklessness against him.
The expenditure, made public two weeks ago by the suspended governor of CBN, Lamido Sanusi, was spent on financing the purchase of new helicopters and security equipment for the police.
Sanusi said that the funds were released on President Goodluck Jonathan’s instruction, a disclosure that reportedly sought to underscore how Jonathan personally authorised some of the spending the CBN’s boss would later be condemned for by the presidency.

President Goodluck Jonathan

However, at the House committee meeting on Tuesday the police denied knowledge of the funds, and the MPA, which supervises the police, distanced itself from the allocation.
The ministry, the police echelon, and the CBN, were all to appear before the committee.
The inspector general of police, Mohammed Abubakar, who was represented by the an assistant inspector general, Ilesanmi Aguda, said the police knew nothing about the CBN disbursement and that the MPA would be better placed to respond to queries on the matter.
But the committee chairman quoted the MPA permanent secretary Obiegbu as saying the ministry had nothing to do with the CBN money.

"The permanent secretary approached me formally and told me that they don’t know anything about the money," Olamilekan said.

Premium Times says that according to the documents it gathered and reviewed, Obiegbu was merely deceiving the committee chairman, as the MPA clearly requested for, and took delivery of the CBN funds.
These papers are said to show how the MPA initiated a memo in 2010 asking for the CBN intervention, followed through with an application for contract award clearance from the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) and eventually awarded the contract for the purchases, having received approval from the president.
The ministry claimed it sought the intervention of the CBN because of the "enormous" cost of the contract.
The MPS said it had relied on three sources of funding: the 2010 budget, the CBN and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), and contributions from the police reforms fund.
It is not clear,  what  the role of the NNPC was   and how much it paid to the ministry, as only the money from the CBN were reflected in the communication between the ministry and the president.
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