Vice - President Yemi Osinbajo again , on Monday , lashed out at the administration of ex - President Goodluck Jonathan , saying it was mirred in grand corruption and impunity.
Osinbajo said he was taken aback , on assumption of office , at the kind of grand corruption that took place under the previous government.
The VP said , for instance , he was shocked to find that in one day $ 292 m (about N70 bn ) was moved out from the Central Bank of Nigeria , “ without any contract or any real explanation ” .
According to him , that dollar haul from the CBN left the apex bank dollar broke for two weeks.
He said it was unimaginable that despite earning $ 381 bn from crude sale between 2010 and 2014 – the highest that the country had ever earned – the nation ’ s external reserves fell to $ 30 bn by 2014 and the Jonathan administration left behind a debt of $ 63 . 806 bn.
Osinbajo said this on Monday in Lagos in a lecture titled , “ Restructuring and the Nigerian federation, ” which he delivered as part activities marking the 40 anniversary of Association of Friends.
He noted that between 2010 and 2015 , Nigeria ’ s debt jumped from $ 35 , 093 . 10bn to $ 63, 806 . 53 bn .
He said , “What do these figures show ? They show that when oil prices were at the highest between 2010 and 2014 the government was borrowing heavily .
“From 2010 to 2014 , debts moved from $ 35bn to $ 63 bn . When we assumed office in 2015 , the debt that the previous government left was $ 63bn .
“Today, three and half years later , the debt is $ 73 bn .
“There are two reasons why despite high earnings we are poorer – the first is grand corruption and mismanagement of resources. And there is a difference between grand corruption and ordinary corruption .
“Grand corruption is directly stealing from the CBN , directly taking money from the treasury without any contract , no pretences; there ’ s no caution, you just take money. That was going on and I will give you several examples.
“When I got to the office as Vice - President, I couldn ’ t believe it. In one day , $ 292 m was signed out and it disappeared . After that period , for two weeks, the Central Bank of Nigeria did not have cash dollar – $ 292 m without any real explanation! We later discovered what became of the money.
“On another occasion , N60 bn was moved out ostensibly for security purposes ; but we know what happened .
“When you have a corrupt government , large sums of money which can be used for development is simply taken . If you are the President of Nigeria , you can literally say , ‘ Go and bring money’.
“Look at a sum of N60bn ; when someone can take N60 bn ; and $ 292 m , that ’ s almost N70 bn . Today, our TraderMoni scheme is costing us N20 bn , where we ’ re giving to petty traders a loan of N10, 000 and when they pay back , we give them N15, 000 and when they pay back , we give them, N20, 000 . But somebody will take $ 292 m, almost N70 bn . If you have N70bn , you will solve the problem of seven million of those petty traders . That ’ s the kind of thing we are talking about and the kind of contrast that we ’ re trying to draw. ”
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