House report blames former minister for unpaid debt

Former Minister of Finance under General Sani Abacha, Etubom Anthony Ani.

A House of Representatives report has cited Anthony Ani, the minister of finance under the regime of Sani Abacha, for culpability in a multibillion naira loan which remained unserviced for over a decade, leaving high interest bill for the government to clear.

Between 1994 and 1998, according to the summary of the report just made public, Mr. Ani, as the finance minister, approved over N7billion loan for federal housing projects, but failed to insist on the repayment of the loan.

The major beneficiary of the funds, the Federal Housing Authority, the report adds, also made no effort to service the loan. The managing director of the FHA at the time, Ibrahim Ali, was scolded along with Mr. Ani by the lawmakers as acting not “in the best interest of the nation.” Efforts made to speak with Messrs Ani and Ali during the holidays were not successful.

“Henceforth, public officials who commit government into any business or agreement that end up in loss, through their action or inaction, should be prosecuted,” the report, authored by the House public accounts committee, recommends.

Full details of the committee’s routine examination of the financial papers of government establishments, which are yet to be discussed by the whole House, have remained unclear.

Its summary on the FHA, carrying with it the commitee’s recommendations, has not yet been approved too.

Invite the EFCC

The committee, headed by Adamu Mohammed, faulted Mr. Ani for his role in the transaction. The lawmakers said the former minister acted in breach of the loan agreement.

“Anthony Ani, who signed the agreement, did not act in the best interest of the nation for failing to demand the repayment of the loan,” they concluded.

The committee recommends that a 12-month moratorium be allowed the FHA before a repayment plan, which would begin at N500 million per annum, is instituted.

It also goes further to state that the subsequent management of the FHA has shown “obvious unwillingness and insensitivity” in repaying the money, suggesting that anti-corruption agencies be invited to help recover the cash if the agency refused to pay the loan.
Source:http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/News/5643590-147/house_report_blames_former_minister_for.csp