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The Senate Finance Committee has declared that no billions of dollars in oil revenue was missing as alleged by Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, who was suspended by President Goodluck Jonathan in February, apparently in connection with the allegation.

Sanusi through a letter to Jonathan which was leaked to the press alleged that $49.8 billion was missing from the Federation Account between January 2012 and July 2013. A joint meeting of the ministries of finance and petroleum with the CBN and the Nigerian national Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) arrived at $10.8bn as the unaccounted funds but Sanusi later insisted that the outstanding sum was $20bn.

All that notwithstanding, the Senator Ahmed Markafi-led committee in its 73-page report submitted yesterday said that only $928, 87,238 was yet to be accounted for by NNPC.

“Therefore, NNPC should remit the balance of $218,069,354.32 million to the federation account,” the committee directed.

It recommended that “inter-agencies reconciliation meetings between sensitive economic institutions such as Ministry of Finance, NNPC, CBN and the Federal Inland Revenue Services should be done on regular basis in order to avoid similar episode but most importantly ensure that all revenue are properly and legally accounted for.’

The committee’s report appears to make unnecessary the ongoing Forensic Audit by the Office of the Auditor General of the Federation and PriceWaterHouse even as Sanusi and the federal government continue their court battle in connection with his suspension.

•Photo shows Senate Finance Committee Chairman, Senator Ahmed Markafi.

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