Former President Goodluck Jonathan on Thursday said contrary to claims made by the Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, Nigeria did not lose $49.8 billion during his administration.
The ex-President stated this in Abuja at the launch of a book titled “Public Policy and Agent Interests: Perspectives from The Emerging World”, which was edited by former Minister of Finance, Shamsuddeen Usman.
“The Financial Reporting Council queries the expenditure of CBN because it is the Financial Reporting Council that has the powers to audit the CBN, it is not the Auditor General of the Federation.
“There were serious infractions that need to be looked at, that was the reason. Somehow, the time was short. So before we finished, his tenure elapsed, probably he would have been called back,” Jonathan said.
Sanusi served as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor between 2009 and 2014, a period that coincided with Jonathan’s time as the President.
In 2014, the then-CBN governor alleged that Nigeria had lost $49.8bn under Jonathan’s administration.
The claim attracted wide criticism and the government later set up a committee to probe the allegation.
Sanusi was asked to proceed on an indefinite leave of absence, with Godwin Emefiele appointed in his place. He went on to become the Emir of Kano, dethroned in 2020 and was reinstated a few months ago.
