Fresh trouble appears to be brewing for the suspended Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN), Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, as the Federal Government has discovered how he spent the sum of N1.3 billion for personal aircraft charter in 2013 alone.Indeed, investigations revealed that the budget for the CBN governor’s aircraft charter was adjusted twice in the year with a proviso for further expenses which are being investigated.
Documents already in the possession of government investigators confirmed that while the sum of N800 million was initially approved in the CBN Governor’s Department Travels vote head for 2013, it was adjusted with additional N400 million in August and another N74 million in December of that year.
While the aircraft charter bill at a stage stood at N1.2 billion, further adjustment was said to have been made to take the bill to N1.344 billion. A memo dated November 27, 2013, which originated from the Director, Governor’s Department of the CBN, had indicated that a single aircraft charter was to cost the CBN governor the sum of $25, 500.
The memo indicated that the CBN governor was to attend an urgent meeting with the president in Abuja on November 28, 2013 and that the sum would defray the cost of aircraft charter for that trip.
Also on December 27, 2013, the Management of CBN approved the sum of N74,768,479.05 (seventy four million, seven hundred and sixty eight thousand, four hundred and seventy nine naira and five kobo only) as additional payment for outstanding aircraft charter bills for the year 2013. It was confirmed that the aircraft charter charges were different from the general costs incurred by the CBN on movement of cash by aircraft from one section of the country to the other. A source stated that the CBN governor’s department deal mainly with issues that affect the CBN governor directly.
It was also confirmed that the CBN had estimated a monthly budget of N95 million for aircraft charter for the governor in 2013, based on past trends. A memo from the Director, Governor’s Department dated December 24, 2013 explains the bills on chartered aircraft.
The memo, addressed to Deputy Governor (CS),with the subject “request for payment of outstanding bills: Chartered aircraft-N74,768,479.05 from General Provisions Account,” explained that while the Bank had estimated that the CBN governor would spend N95 million monthly on aircraft charter, the trend towards the end of 2013 changed as a result of frequent local and international trips by the governor.
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