Former Military President, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, frittered away $12bn of the country’s revenue through special accounts, which he ran as the sole approving authority.

This was contained in the report of the Panel on the Reorganisation and Reforms of the Central Bank of Nigeria.

The panel headed by the late renowned economist, Dr. Pius Okigbo, painted in graphic details how Babangida operated “a second but undisclosed budget” with the then CBN governor, the late Alhaji Abdulkadir Ahmed.

The report, which was submitted to the administration of the late Gen. Sani Abacha on August 29, 1994, had been a subject of interest to Nigerians, who have been itching for the detailed report of the government’s White Paper on it.

According to the report, the Babangida regime operated dedication accounts outside of the budgetary provisions, which he ran without accounting to anybody.

It stated that the operations of these accounts were fraught with irregularities.

“The proceeds of the sale of the crude were not shown in the revenue side nor were the expenditures reflected in the expenditure side of the budget,” the report said.

The report traced the origin of the accounts to September 1988 when Babangida approved a proposal to dedicate 65,000 barrels of crude oil per day for certain priority projects, particularly the Ajaokuta Steel, the Itakpe Iron Mining and the Shiroro Hydroelectric projects.

It added that the quantity was increased to 105,000bpd in October 1989 to finance such projects as the LNG and the commitment to the Joint Venture Partners of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.

In the early part of 1994, it was again raised to 150,000bpd.

The report disclosed that the “total receipts and payments in respect of the dedication accounts from inception in September 1988 to June 30, 1994 were $6.195bn and $6.109bn respectively, leaving a balance of $85.943m as at the end of the period.”

Other controversial special accounts allegedly opened by the then military regime, according to the report, included the NNPC Sales of Mining Account, the Stabilisation Account, the Signature Bonus Account, and the GHQ Special Fund Account.

While the $2.06bn accrued to the NNPC Sales of Mining Rights Account, through the sale of mining rights in the NNPC/ Shell Joint venture, $4.398bn accrued to the Stabilisation Account between October 1990 and June, 1994.

As the report explained, the Stabilisation Account was created in October 1990 to receive revenue from crude oil sales in excess of the budgeted provision during the Gulf War.

The aim, it added, was to effectively separate it from the Federation Account and to sterilise it pending instructions for further utilisation.

It reported that the bulk of the money was applied to settle obligations outstanding to contractors handling priority projects and in financing the debt buy-back operation.

The report further disclosed that in 1992 $1.21bn, representing the proceeds of debt held by the CBN was received back into the account, but the balance in that account as June 30, 1994 was $117.36m. There was no account of the disbursements from that account.

The report added that as the funds swelled, other revenue streams, including the proceeds from the sale of mining rights, stabilisation account, and signature bonus, were also squandered.

The Babangida regime, it said, also resorted to the financing of mundane projects like the purchase of television and video sets for the Presidency at the cost of $18.30m, documentary film on Nigeria, $2.92m, foreign trips by wife of the President, $8.95m, and medical clinic for Aso Rock, $27.25m, among others.

It said, “Neither the Dedication Account nor the Stabilisation Account was applied for the .purpose it was originally designed to serve.

“Thus, the Dedication Account was used for many non-priority projects and the Stabilisation Account was not, in practice, used to sterilise revenues in excess of projected earnings.

“Instead, after a short delay, the monies in the accounts were spent virtually as fast as they were accumulated.”

On the external sector of the economy, the report insisted that there was nothing to cheer about the various economic policies employed by the Babangida administration in the reviewed period.

“It noted that in spite of the various policy measures put in place since 1986 to reverse the deteriorating trend in the external sector of the economy, the results were unsatisfactory.

“The noticeable favourable performance in the balance of payments in the first year of the implementation of the Structural Adjustment Programme, 1986-1988, was artificial as some debt service claims against the country were postponed due to debt rescheduling.”

It argued that the improvement could have been sustained but for the usually high level of other external payments and expenditures from 1989 onwards, which wiped out the external reserves and put extreme pressures on the balance of payments.

It noted that the external sector performance deteriorated in 1992 as the overall balance of payments position, which was persistently in surplus during the previous three years, plunged into huge deficit of $3.8bn.

This, according to the report, reflected the large payments made in respect of scheduled amortisation, as well as the debt buy-back arrangement, which led to the repurchase of $3.4bn worth of the country’s external debt.

Other members of the panel were the incumbent Chairman, First Bank of Nigeria Plc, Alhaji Umaru Mutallab; the current Chairman of Diamond Bank, Mr. Paschal Dozie; Mr. Y. Sankey; and Mrs. B. Latinwo. Others were the current Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Chief Ufot Ekaette; Mr. O. Oyefodunrin; and Ida, who was the secretary.

Efforts to find out the present state of the various accounts listed in the report from the CBN met a brick wall.

The bank’s Head of Corporate Affairs, Mr. Festus Odoko, said in a telephone interview on Monday that he could not say much on the issue since the Federal Government had not released the report to the public.

When pressed further, the CBN spokesman who requested for a copy of the report, dismissed the claims that certain spurious accounts were managed by the CBN.

“I do not know anywhere in the world where CBN opens account for individuals. There are accounts for banks and government,” Odoko said.

In an interview with THISDAY on Sunday, on August 20, 2006, Babangida said he had anticipated the oil windfall as one of the major political issues against his presidential aspiration in 2007.

He, however, added that he was prepared to defend the management of the $12.4bn.

He said, “I prepared my mind. I knew what everybody will be talking about. Now, they have added Vatsa into the vocabulary of the atrocities committed by IBB.

“So, it’s Vatsa, the N12.4bn oil windfall they say I stole; Dele Giwa; June 12 and the institutionalisation of corruption. I hope Nigerians will believe (and I believe they will) when we eventually tell them the truth.

“I said for my eight years, I have never been so fortunate to get a barrel of crude oil above $30. I was that unfortunate to manage a situation where a barrel sold for $12, $10 per barrel during my regime. On one side, you had me who managed poverty, on the other side, you had others who are managing affluence.”

The Coordinator, International Press Centre, Lagos, Mr. Lanre Arogundade, on Monday said the failure by the government to make the report public and issue a White Paper on it raised a major question mark on the genuineness of its anti-corruption war.

Also, the Executive Director, Media Rights Agenda, Mr. Edaetan Ojo, said he was surprised by the government’s lack of commitment to get to the root of the case despite the amount of money involved and its anti-corruption stance.

They spoke on Monday in separate interviews with our correspondents.

While commending THE PUNCH for its efforts at putting the report in the public domain, Ojo said his organisation would take the issue up once it had the necessary tools.

Despite the fact that THE PUNCH had it on good authority that a copy of the report had been with Ida, past attempts to get it were unsuccessful.

On October 13, 2004, THE PUNCH wrote Ekaette, asking for the government’s intervention to obtain the report.

But the letter was not replied.

A reminder, signed by the Editor, THE PUNCH, Mr. Azubuike Ishiekwene, was sent to the SGF on October 27.

The SGF, whose office statutorily keeps all reports of panels or commissions of inquiry, sent a terse response on November 12, 2004.

In the response, signed by Dr. K.B. Kaigama on behalf of the SGF, the government said it would be willing to make the Okigbo Report available as soon as it could be found.

Still unrelenting, THE PUNCH, on April 11, 2005, wrote a letter to the chairman of the defunct National Political Reform Conference, Justice Niki Tobi, urging the conference to prevail on the government to release the reports of both the Okigbo Panel and the Human Rights Violations and Investigations Commission to the public.

The NPRC did not address the issues bordering on the Okigbo Report.

Having obtained a copy of the report, THE PUNCH on August 10, 2006, wrote another letter to the SGF to verify its authenticity and enclosed the 352-page report.

Extracts from the letter read, “You may recall, Sir, that on October 13 and 27, 2004, PUNCH wrote two separate letters to the SGF requesting for copies of the Okigbo panel report, which among other things, investigated how the military administration of General Ibrahim Babangida disbursed the $12.4bn earned from the sale of oil during the first Gulf War in 1990/1991.

“PUNCH was also encouraged to write because the present administration had indicated quite clearly, both in public comments by President Olusegun Obasanjo and specifically in a reply to our enquiries in a letter received on Friday, November 12, 2004 (signed by Dr. K.B. Kaigama on behalf of the SGF), that it would be willing to make the Okigbo report available as soon as it can be found.

“In fact, we recall that as part of the government’s effort to address our request, Kaigama said in his letter that the SGF’s office had written one Alhaji Ibrahim Ida, a member of the panel, for a copy of the report and that his response was being awaited.

“After years of diligent search, PUNCH has obtained what could be a genuine copy of the Okigbo report. We would be most obliged if the SGF, who on page VI of the report is indicated as one of the eight members of the panel, and a signatory, could assist PUNCH in verifying the authenticity of this volume in the overriding interest of the public.”

As at press time on Monday, there was no response or acknowledgement from the government.

http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art200609052143979

Its amazing what $8.95 Million can buy you in 1990. amazing how IBB wife was taking foreign trips of the sum, $8.95m and yet he want to come back and rule Nigeria.

ODEKU: Your cut from the newspaper is too long. Do you know how to summarize news story?

You read the story and rewrite it in two or three sentences. This will make your topic more interesting.

If everybody is copying and pasting Vanguard newspaper stories the way you do, this site will be clogged and shot down within few months.

Aside from the $8.9million for the wife (Chief Mrs Mariam Babangida- nee[b] Okogwu[/b]) of the military ruler's foreign trips, a lot of money also exchanged hands with his inlaws in Asaba - specifically Cheif Sonny Okogwu (propounder of the North-South Oil Drift hypothesis), money also exchanged hands in facilitating the movt. of Delta State capital to Asaba.

Eternal punishments, anguish, terror and grief awaits all the looters of the Niger Delta resources and their co-conspirators in this world and in the world to come.

so Ono will it be appropriate to say IBB is the root cause of the problem in Niger Delta now?

Odeku, you just don't get it do you. I don't give a hoot whether it's root cause, leaves cause, branches cause ,woteva!

Only God will judge the evil ones who delight in the anguish of other people.

ONO: Very good point. All these folks continue to follow bought newspaper stories.

It's time to stop rehashing, it is time to develop a long term resolution that will delete corruption in our society forever.

eg:
Life after IBB

Probe and expose every single corrupt leaders or government officials (current or ex) and so on.

All these fruitless IBB bashing are getting old and getting to be monotonous. As a matter of fact, a reliable source mentioned to me few days ago that IBB bashing is starting to back fire and might contradict it's objective.

I get it, the issue is how can you tell someone that doesn't think he is hurting other people by stealing public funds, at least that's what IBB was synonymous for, the master mind of 419 the dribbler, i feel the pain of the Delta people.

Regardless if its IBB bashing or not, Nigeria has over 130 Million population, and we cant all like IBb or be blinded by his evil deeds, what we the elite can do is to make sure he never come to power again.

Finally the report is out. Babangida is still in his mansion scheming. Nigeria would not have been where it is today if not for d bastard. Yet he walks freely declaring his ambition to rule the land. He is really smart. He wants to come back and rule the country in a period where US is engaged in a war involving oil producing nations, a period of instability in the middle east so when oil prices rise to $100 he would have a windfall in his pockets like the first windfall in 1990. IBB did not waste the $12bn windfall as the topic says, he invested it in himself. The money is still around, Part of what he is using in his campaign.

In this day of technology RIbadu will nail IBB, and that will be his greatest accomplishment.

IBB might be smart but his defence of the allegations against him is patently moronic.

Look at this:

Odeku:

“I said for my eight years, I have never been so fortunate to get a barrel of crude oil above $30. I was that unfortunate to manage a situation where a barrel sold for $12, $10 per barrel during my regime. On one side, you had me who managed poverty, on the other side, you had others who are managing affluence.”

The man just shouldn't insult the intelligence of Nigerians.People are asking what you did with money and you're saying you weren't fortunate to have more.
A thief is a thief whether during growth or recession,chikena!

Thank you and that is why we must not allow the bastard to come back

TIANSIE: Good comment, but be very careful, some of these information are not directly coming from IBB. Nigerian newspaper can not be trusted at all time. There are many stories that have been printed lately about other things (not about IBB) that I was fortunate to be very close to that weren't true. Sometimes newspaper choose to write about anything just to increase sales.

Be smart and always make your own judgment based on a reliable source.

Well, Big B I tell you if IBB were into something good, or did something good throughout his eight years of military misrule, the Nigerian newspapers will still want to profit by telling false?? stories about his developmental feat! - or don't you think so?!

ONO: come on now, when it comes to news media, it is not about the entity itself, it's about what is going on, what is hot, what is cooking and what people want to hear or read.

Don't misunderstand my point, IBB may be a vicious leader or human being, but we have to be careful not to be brainwashed by bought news paper stories.

OK. So what do we rely on for our source of information?

Don't tell me to go and see IBB and ask him myself, cos I can't!

Common sense

The same common sense IBB used in stealing our money

http://www.vanguardngr.com/articles/2002/cover/september06/09092006/f209092006.html

But he still hasn't told us what he did with it. . .

The general will find a way to explain it all!!Crooked son of a gun!!

But if this bastard is saint, why is he not coming out and defending himself, or explain what happen to the money?

Why is this report missing from a nation of 140 million people? Because IBB is been protected by the ruling class. this evil general has been generous with his ill gotten wealth, but he will face the anguish of the law one day AMEN.

mamajama, has ehindero relinquished his own loot?

AT Least Ehindero came out and told Nigerians this is the handy work of his detractors and he had nothing to do with the mess. Has IBB ever accepted looting the nation? or account for his actions? the difference is crystal clear.

Mamajama:

AT Least Ehindero came out and told Nigerians this is the handy work of his detractors and he had nothing to do with the mess. Has IBB ever accepted looting the nation? or account for his actions? the difference is crystal clear.

what a handy excuse. So the N21m loot in his office was placed there by his detractors? The IG's house he bought while in office, a clear abuse of power and priviledge, was the handiwork of his detractors too?
So it was these faceless detractors who put the loot in his accounts? Why is he yet to name these detractors?

davidylan Point of correction the money was never found in his office? it was found in CP budjet office. secondly Ehindero was already retired out of the force and not a part of the police force. Thirdly as highly speculated by the media. the DSP that was arrested with the money only had 900 Thousand in his posesion at the gate, the speculated million was in a CP budget file cabinet. The IGP house was sold to EHINDERO just like the senators houses were sold to past senators. why don't you ask all the senators staying at Hilton in ABUJA why they don't have a house? this was a legislation OBJ approved so stop reading all this nonsense in the paper cases are won on FACTS and not speculation. FYI Ehindero is a distinguished lawyer.

Mamajama:

davidylan Point of correction the money was never found in his office? it was found in CP budjet office. secondly Ehindero was already retired out of the force and not a part of the police force. Thirdly as highly speculated by the media. the DSP that was arrested with the money only had 900 Thousand in his posesion at the gate, the speculated million was in a CP budget file cabinet. The IGP house was sold to EHINDERO just like the senators houses were sold to past senators. why don't you ask all the senators staying at Hilton in ABUJA why they don't have a house? this was a legislation OBJ approved so stop reading all this nonsense in the paper cases are won on FACTS and not speculation. FYI Ehindero is a distinguished lawyer.

Every potbellied professional politician is a "distinguished lawyer". 

BTW why is Ehindero choosing to leave the house he claimed to have payed for if it was transparent?

Davidylan i hold the least regard for Ehindero's stint in office but lets return to the topic cos Ehindero's allegations are atomic when compared to the monumental kleptomania of IBB. That guy mismanaged $12b for gossakes!!

The hediousness of ibb's rape cannot be and should not be deleted from our national consciousness.

We dont need further evidence of ibb's squandery cos i remember that time. Things were getting worse. So on this thread leave ehindero 1st, focus on the bigger thief.

Kleptomaniac is only giving the act a slightly milder name. the man is a THIEF!!! he knows it, we all know it. but its really unfortunate that we belong to a totally decadent society. why else will someone like IBB among others still be able to hold their heads up high and go about biz as usual. even throw parties and the place is full with 'well wishers' i weep for my country.  

davidylan are you even up to date on this topic? please stop diverting the attention. read the caption.