| THE disparity between figures quoted as the amount spent by the Obasanjo administration on roads narrowed yesterday as the Central Bank governor, Professor Charles Soludo put the amount at N946.8 billion while the Accountant General of the Federation Mr. Ibrahim Dankwabo who earlier gave the controversial N968 trillion figure came down to N940.6 billion. The two spoke before the Senate ad-hoc Committee investigating the utilisation of funds in the transport sector. The exact amount spent by the Obasanjo administration has been a matter of controversy in the ongoing Senate probe of the finances and implementation of policies in the transportation ministry. Also briefing the House of Representatives Committee on Finance yesterday in Abuja, he said that the sum of N459 billion was expended by the apex bank within the period under review. �Not all payments are made through the Central Bank of Nigeria. Some are made through commercial banks especially is cases where money is needed to be disburse for some MDGs in places where there are no CBN. The monies are disbursed to commercial banks because of the size of the Ministry of Transportation.� The accountant general on his part blamed the disparity on poor record keeping between his office and the CBN. He promised to complete the reconciliation soon to give the Senate the exact amount so far expended on Nigerian roads by the Federal Government. He said, �The reconciliation process will be on going. Giving the nature of recording keeping in the country, we cannot reconcile the figures in a few days time, but if the CBN takes it year by year, we correct the disparity in the figures.� The Chairman of the committee, Senator Heineken Lopkobiri lambasted the various agencies for their poor recording keeping. He said the N6 billion disparities between the CBN and accountant general�s office is a large sum that Nigerians must know what has happened to it. While submitting a statement of account to the House of Representatives committee investigating remittances from government organizations to the Federal Government purse, Prof. Soludo noted that about N91. 403billion was invested in certain government business concerns within the same period. He added that the sum of N105.76 made available to the Federal Government to appropriate while the sum of N20.1billion was reserved and another n85. 4billion kept away as surplus in Earlier, the minister of transportation, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Maduekwe yesterday apologised to the Senate over her published response to the illegal N30.9 withdrawal made in the last four days December, 2007. She said the publication was to explain her position on the N30.9 billion and not to embarrass the Senate. |
Jul42008