Is it that Buhari encouraged NNPC to breach TSA as a minister?
Next week Wednesday may be rowdy during the seating of the House of Representatives ad hoc Committee probing NNPC on the implementation of the Treasury Single Account (TSA) policy.
This stemmed from the confirmation by the Committee on Tuesday that the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) had flouted the TSA policy by depositing over N50 billion in various commercial banks.
Business Hilights recalls that trouble started when Mr. Dipo Fatokun, a top official of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), testified before the lawmakers that implementation of the TSA policy was yet to score 100 per cent compliance.
Already, the Committee had directed the NNPC Group Managing Director (GMD), Mr. Maikanti Baru, to appear before it with credible evidence showing that ‘Buhari approved non-compliance’
Recall that since the resumption of the policy till date, President had remained the Minister of Petroleum to whom the NNPC boss reports by the Act establishing the Corporation.
The committee, led by Mr. Abubakar Nuhu Danburam, who insisted on sighting the evidence that Buhari was aware of the over N50bn allegedly kept in some commercial banks other than the statutory TSA, was reacting to the NNPC response to an issue raised by a member of the committee, Mr. Simon Arabo (Kaduna, PDP), who queried the genuineness of a letter purportedly signed by Mr. Abba Kyari, Chief of Staff to the President, conveying Buhari’s consent to lodge the amount in commercial banks.
The questionable involvement of Buhari’s Chief of Staff, however forced another Committee member, Mr. Edward Pwajok, to include Kyari in the number of government officials to appear before the committee on Wednesday next week.
However, the appearance of Chief of Staff failed as the Committee chairman, directed the chief executive officers (CEOs) of all the country’s commercial banks to appear before the committee next week Wednesday to explain their roles in warehousing the NNPC fund.
