Nigeria Would’ve Collapsed Had Officials Of My Govt Stole That Much As Alarmed – Jonathan

Nigeria Would’ve Collapsed Had Officials Of My Govt Stole That Much As Alarmed – Jonathan

“Jonathan said the alle­gation was the same way somebody stated that $49.8 billion was missing, which he later said was $12 billion and later $20 billion, saying when the issue was raised by the German chancellor with him in a meeting, he told the foreign leader that if such amount of money was missing in Nigeria, the country would collapse”

That was a quote from the Daily Sun Newspaper where it was said that the former President Goodluck Jonathan opined that Nigeria would have collapsed had officials of his government had stole that much as being peddled by some quarters.

NEWS: Why I Won’t Speak Now on Dasuki’s $2.1bn Arms Scandal – Jonathan Breaks Silence From Geneva

Speaking in Geneva, Switzerland yesterday at a media interaction organised by the Geneva Press Club, Jonathan said as a former president, who laboured to build institutions, it will be out of place for him to do anything that would under­mine government and pro­cesses.

He also said speaking on the arms purchase probe of the President Buhari-led ad­ministration would amount to subjudice as well as jeop­ardise the processes already instituted. He, however, said at the appropriate time, he would address all the is­sues being raised about the issue.

“I would have loved to speak extensively be­cause, even back in Nige­ria, people are saying that I should say something. In my country, there are laws. When issues are before the court, you are not expected to speak on them. If I speak now, it will affect court processes and investiga­tion. What I want Nigeri­ans to know is that we did key issues and things. We tried to build institutions. We encouraged separation of power. If I speak now, it will negate the efforts we made. Let us leave the in­stitutions to do their jobs,” Jonathan said.

Speaking on the amount of money said to have been embezzled by past leaders, Jonathan said the figures being mentioned are alarm­ing. He stated that missing or embezzled money are being presented as if they all happened during his five years tenure, whereas there are some being mentioned which happened before he came to power. He said since Minister of Informa­tion, Lai Mohammed, said 55 people, including gov­ernors embezzled money running into N1 trillion, he should have the names of those involved.

He, however, said the allegation that about one million barrel of oil was stolen everyday could not have been true, since the country, during his gov­ernment, was officially producing roughly above two million barrels a day, which was not consistent. He said if one million bar­rel was therefore, being stolen daily, there was no way the country could have survived.

Jonathan said the alle­gation was the same way somebody stated that $49.8 billion was missing, which he later said was $12 billion and later $20 billion, saying when the issue was raised by the German chancellor with him in a meeting, he told the foreign leader that if such amount of money was missing in Nigeria, the country would collapse.

He said in order to get to the root of the matter, his administration instituted a probe, which involved forensic audit that later proved that such amount of money was never missing.