Alex Enumah in Abuja
The presidency wednesday disclosed that it is investigating the bailout funds granted to commercial banks in the country in 2006.
A Senior Presidential Assistant and Chairman of the Special Panel on Recovery of Public Properties, Okoi Obono-Obla, disclosed this at a press conference in Abuja.
However, when contacted on the development last night, the Director, Corporate Communications, CBN, Mr. Isaac Okorafor, told THISDAY during a telephone chat that he was not aware of the matter.
Continuing, Obono-Obla, expressed shock that the funds, apart from the fact that they were yet to be refunded was misconceived to be a “dash” to the banks.
“If you recall that in 2006 the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) gave out bailout funds to commercial banks to the tune of $7billion. “When we got to the CBN to update us whether these funds have been paid back, the bank said that in 2006 its Board of Directors met and pass a resolution dashing $7 billion to these commercial banks.
“You can imagine dashing public money; we are going to recover that money because the commercial banks do not belong to the Nigerian people but to private individuals”, the presidential assistant stated.