Missing N30 Trillion: ''I Won’t Answer Soludo Again'' - Says Okonjo-Iweala

Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, on Tuesday said she would no longer reply the former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Prof. Charles Soludo, over claims that that N30 trillion was stolen under her watch.

Okonjo-Iweala said this while responding to questions on a radio programme on Raypower. She, however, advised Nigerians not to be deceived by the misinformation by some politicians in the country.

When asked to comment on the alleged missing N30 trillion, the finance minister said:

“This is part of the packaged lies that Nigerians must avoid. I don’t want to enter into that debate, we have answered him (Soludo) and I don’t want to join issues with him because you don’t join issues when things don’t make any sense.”“

Ngozi explained that the forensic report on the alleged unremitted oil revenue by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) that was submitted to the presidency by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) on Monday was never under her ministry, contrary to the insinuations by some members of the public.

“There is a lot of misinformation that is being put out and it is sad for me. I have not been controlling the audit, it is the Auditor General. Nigerians have been misinformed. They left out the fact that the Auditor-General was in charge of the report.

I was only interviewed for it and there was no way I could be in charge, but some people decided to paint it as if I was in charge of the report and that is very unfortunate.

It is part of the packaging and misinformation in this politics, and it has to stop because Nigerians cannot be continuously deceived,” the minister said.

Earlier on today, during an interview with NAN, former EFCC Chairman and PDP Governorship candidate in Adamawa state, Nuhu Ribadu also said it wasn't true the allegation by former CBN Governor Charles Soludo that N30trillion went missing under Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala's watch.

Nuhu argued that the Minister of Finance has an impeccable record having monitored her while she was minister under Former President Olusegun Obasanjo. He had told NAN:

"I was baffled and got deluded for anyone to say that N30 trillion got lost. I think we just have to look at what we earn as a country and what our budget had been in these few years and see how possible it is. If everything we earned is not up to that within the period she has been the minister, which is about three to four years, then we need to be careful. We need to be careful to avoid more damage to our nation, because there are certain things that when it comes out, it will never go back again." 

I challenge anybody to say that she stole N1 at that time; we were all there. I was in charge of EFCC and I want to hear anybody say that she did this and that. I followed her up till now. I think it is somehow uncharitable for someone to come out to say that such an amount of money was missing under her watch. 

When I worked with her, she exhibited a nationalistic attitude that was not questionable and believed in any policy that could take Nigeria and its people high. I am close to almost all of us that worked together as a team and I know that Ngozi continues to do what she knows how best to do, which is to serve Nigeria. She managed this economy fairly in spite of all the challenges and difficulties; it is sad for someone to look at Ngozi and said that she has a hand in it (alleged missing funds). 

This pull-down syndrome has to stop and we must manage ourselves very well; I am not happy now with what is going on and I think that if it is politics, I think it is something that is hurting us as people and hurting the economy as well,” he said.

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