TSA: Reps query exemption of N50bn NNPC accounts
- President Buhari has been accused of granting some exemption to Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation accounts from the Treasury Single Account
- Ad hoc committee of the House Reps discovered that the NNPC directed some commercial banks to keep the accounts outside the TSA
- The CBN confirmed their awareness of the situation pointing to a document tendered by the NNPC with a presidential approval
Following the purported exemption of some special Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation accounts from the Treasury Single Account by President Buhari, the House of Representatives, on Tuesday, December 13 raised questions over the act.
Punch reports that accounts, with funds worth N50bn, are still being kept by commercial banks in breach of the TSA policy.
It also reported that an ad hoc committee of the House, chaired by Abubakar Danburam-Nuhu, found out that the NNPC directed some commercial banks to keep the accounts outside the TSA.
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The CBN while confirming their awareness of the situation pointing to a document tendered by the NNPC, indicating that there was a presidential approval.
Punch further reports that the said approval was a memo written by the chief staff to the president, Abba Kyari, authorising the NNPC to exclude the accounts from the TSA.
Speaking over the discovery, Danburam-Nuhu stated: “Banks are still holding accounts with funds up to N50bn outside the TSA.
“The banks claim that there is an approval by the President for the accounts to operate outside the TSA.
“These are NNPC accounts and the corporation must produce evidence of the presidential approval.”
It was also reported that Dipo Fatokun, a senior official of the CBN confirmed to the committee that the NNPC wrote to inform the apex bank of the exemptions.
He was said to have mentioned accounts relating to JV operations as the NNPC accounts covered by the exemptions.
“The banks are actually holding some accounts. We are aware. It’s not yet a case of 100 per cent transfer to the TSA,” he explained.
In their response to the allegation of exemption leveled against Buhari, the Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership and the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (CACOL) criticised the president.
“This allegation is beyond just indicting the government; it will amount to a statement of contradictory principles. It will mean that this administration is working on ambiguous principles which fall short of the hallmark of good governance. It will amount to an abuse of office and conflict of interests. We should still believe that it cannot be true and that the President will condescend to engaging in under-the-hand dealings,” CACOL director, Debo Adeniran, said.
Meanwhile, NAIJ.com had reported Kayode Fayemi, the minister of solid minerals development said that for Nigeria to succeed in the fight against corruption, it must say no to impunity and eliminate the syndrome of ‘sacred cows’.
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NAIJ.com reports that he said this on Monday, December 11, at an event organised by the Inter Agency Task Team (IATT), in collaboration with the European Union (EU) Rule of Law and Anti-Corruption (RoLAC) programme and the United States embassy.
The programme was in commemoration of the 2017 International Anti-Corruption Day held in Abuja.
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Source: Naija.ng