How Gov. Yari’s consultants pocket N42b Paris Club Refund

More than two percent of the fresh $6.9 billion Paris Club refund is said to have been creamed off by some consultants recruited by Chairman of the Nigeria Governors forum, NGE, Alhaji Abdulaziz Yari.

Investigation by National Daily showed that the said consultants will pocket the sum of $138 million for doing nothing.

Yari, in a recent letter to Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun, conveyed the agreement to pay two % to these consultants. The letter reads: “Please recall that the Nigeria Governors Forum had at its meeting of May 2016 appointed a Consortium of Financial Consultants to reconcile and recover over-deductions from the Paris and London Club loans due to states and local governments.

Part of the letter read: “Also, Mr. President in a meeting with members of the Forum had graciously agreed to pay 50% of the monies due and the balance of 50% paid after  due and diligent reconciliation of the accounts.

“At the last meeting of the Nigeria Governors Forum held in July 2016, the Forum unanimously resolved to pay a fee of 2% to the consultants as their professional fees for the services rendered.

However, in a show of deep distrust among members of the forum, National Daily learnt some governors are protesting over the payout of over N42 billion to the consultants.

The disgruntled governors are said to be unhappy realising that “one or two governors” brought the lead consultants after each state had engaged its own consultants.

“Our colleagues can also not be offering consultancy services to us through some proxies”, one of the aggrieved governors said, pleading not to be mentioned because of “the sensitivity” of the matter.

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“At the end of it all, states are expected to part with N42.2billion to consultants who are not primary sources of the loan records. We were shocked that out of the N19 billion consultancy/legal fees paid into the NGF accounts, most consultants hired by states have not been paid a farthing.

“The bulk of the job of the reconciliation of loan refunds is being done by officials and consultants or financial advisers from each state, the Debt Management Office (DMO), the Ministry of Finance, the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation (OAGF).

“Some of us will resist further deductions from our loan refund. The N42.2 billion is outrageous”.

National Daily gathered that suspicion has built up across the forum over time. “I don’t believe a single thing he has been saying, ”declared an angry governor, referring  to Yari’s defense of the consultants.

The fresh crisis is said to be fueling an intense wave of anti- Yari resentment already. But those close to Yari are also said to be spinning a resistance, especially  with assertions that most of the disgruntled governors actually denied their local government areas of their share through non-remittance or partial remittance.

“Some states got the refund and diverted it to other uses. Others transferred to Joint Account and gave local governments paltry sums, a governor revealed.

“We have the list of states where local government staff have been subjected to untold hardship by governors who have withheld the share of the third tier.

“What the government expected was that since each local government paid for the loans, its refund should be directly remitted to it to pay outstanding salaries.

“In a few states, the governors outrightly denied local governments their refund, as if the Federal Government did not release any cash.

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According to sources in the EFCC, some governor’s are under the spotlight over allegations that billions of Naira were diverted for the personal use of officials and some people associated with them.

National Daily gathered that the EFCC is continuing with its investigation of the Paris Club refund diversion by some governors.