CBN paid power contractors N917.8bn - Soludo

Bola Badmus and Idowu Samuel, buja18.03.2008

CENTRAL Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Professor Chukwuma Soludo, has said that the bank has paid a total sum of N917.8billion on power sector contracts, even as he refused to say if it was right for banks to pay contractors that were not registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC).

Soludo said this when he appeared before the House of Representatives committee on Power and Steel which compelled his appearance to give account of releases by the CBN to the power sector in relation to various contracts undertaken to improve electricity supply to the country under the regime of ex- President Olusegun Obasanjo.

Soludo, who was answering questions from the committee probing how $16billion was expended on power supply without any tangible result, said releases by the CBN was in relation to job done for which the Accountant General of the Federation (AGF) Office and the Ministry of Finance had certified.

According to the Soludo, the bank paid the said money in both naira and dollars, saying N422.2billion was paid for job done locally while another sum of $4.2billion was paid for items sourced from abroad.

Soludo said once authorisation for payment was received from the accountant general’s office, what the CBN always did was to confirm payment with the Minister of Finance.

However, when pressed to say if it was right for commercial banks to pay contractors that were not registered by the CAC for job executed with the NIPP, the CBN governor refused to answer the question, but merely said that he as governor of the CBN supervised banks within the ambit of the law.