Why Federal Govt Has Kept Mute Over Sanusi/NNPC Controversy

The Federal government yesterday said it has not commented on the controversy between the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Sanusi Lamido and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation over alleged non-remittance of some money into the federation account because it believes the disagreements would be solved at institutional level.
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Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi had accused the NNPC of failing to remit $20 Million from oil sales into the federation account, an allegation the NNPC vehemently denied.
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But asked why the government has kept mute about the allegation from the Central Bank of Nigeria Governor, the Minister of Information, Labaran Maku called for restraint in esponding to the allegation.
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“I will caution that we be patient for the institution of government to respond. You will recall that the CBN governor claimed $49 billion or there about was missing and inquiry shows that that was not so. Now he has been making further claims and NNPC has been responding and I believe that I do not have the facts now to answer your questions. I believe the Minister of Finance, the NNPC will be in a better position to provide answers.
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“You know when you deal with figures, we cannot be responding flippantly. NNPC has been explaining it’s position and I think you should listen to its explanation. What I have heard the NNPC say is that there appears to be lack of understanding by the CBN governor for the actual work they do and how monies are remitted. And they have continued to make that point repeatedly in response to the CBN.
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Because last time it was $49 billion but overnight $29 billion was no longer missing.
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“So when you look at this kind of allegations and the outcome, I am not a financial expert but I think there is some level of misunderstanding that needs to be carefully looked into.
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“These institutions in my opinion can resolve those problems rather than making it an issue of newspaper statement which continues to give the impression that they are not working together, when they should be working together. They should in my opinion coordinate their activities in such a way that they have full understanding operations of the matter” he said .