The federal government has said $7 million out of the $1 billion in the Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF) is missing from the fund’s account.
The Ad-Hoc Committee of five governors on the management of the Excess Crude Account and related federation account issues which made the revelation also said it has since grilled the management of the SWF over the missing money.
The chairman of the five-member committee, Governor Adams Oshiomole of Edo State disclosed this to journalists after meeting with Vice President Yemi Osinbajo at the presidential villa on Thursday night.
Oshiomole explained that when the committee interrogated the management of the fund at its plenary on their report about the current state of the SWF, they said only $3 million was left in the account.
He noted that the SWF management claimed that the $7 million was invested in the second Niger bridge and partially in Kaduna-Abuja rail.
Dr-Ngozi-Okonjo-IwealaThis, he said, was contrary to the claim by former minister of finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala who had claimed that the Kaduna-Abuja rail was funded with the loan secured by the country from China.
The governor said, “I reported to the media that the Sovereign Wealth people in their report to us, which I have in black and white, showed clearly that they have only $300 million left in the Sovereign Wealth Fund account.
“We have it in black and white and I can publish it if anybody wants to deny that because it was not submitted to me secretly. It was submitted at plenary of the committee.
“And then we asked, because I knew that the fund was $1 billion, what was done with $700 million. And they said they have made some investments. We asked them what they invested in and they said the second Niger bridge and partially in Kaduna-Abuja rail. That is what they said and I was not alone there.
“We were about five governors and it was a full plenary. But we know that the Kaduna-Abuja rail was funded with Chinese loan, which even Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala spoke about.
