The board of
directors of the Nigeria Security Printing and Minting Company (NSPMC) met
yesterday over the scandal that rocked the establishment where it was revealed
that a whopping N2.1 billion of newly printed N1,000 notes have mysteriously
gone missing.
The board meeting, chaired by the Central Bank
of Nigeria (CBN) governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, decided to expand the
investigation and audit the production of other currency denominations to
ascertain the quantity of money that has actually gone missing over the years.
LEADERSHIP had exclusively reported that an
acting managing director, Ahmed Bamali, had been appointed to head the Mint
company while Ehi Okomoyon, who was the chief executive, was asked to proceed
on indefinite leave.
A source with insider knowledge of what
transpired at the meeting told LEADERSHIP that the suspension of Okoyomon as
managing director on an indefinite basis until all investigations have been
concluded was reaffirmed.
The head of security at the NSPMC, Emmanuel
Bala, has also been asked to go on compulsory leave by the board of directors
of the company. The general manager, management services, Obi Igoban is
expected to write him the letter of suspension today.
LEADERSHIP also gathered that the board faulted
the suspended MD for failing to disclose to it that such amounts of money had
gone missing even though the company had set up an internal investigation after
a mint staff was arrested in Lagos for being in possession of unnumbered bank
notes.
The board meeting, which reportedly started at
about 10am, did not end until 3pm. Other than the initial audit report, the
board also discussed routine and budgetary issues.
The CBN had to set up its own audit team, whose
findings were put to the board yesterday, and a unanimous vote affirmed that
Okoyomon should continue on indefinite suspension.
Part of the CBN audit team’s investigation is
to unravel why the management of the Mint company has consistently refused to
place Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) in its Abuja and Lagos factories, and
why other security measures were deliberately set aside.
The audit team had, however, established that
the theft of printed bank notes could be traced to security lapses and security
personnel who take custody of newly printed bank notes, and when there were
shortages, they were never reprimanded. The entire security department is said
to be directly under the supervision of MD.
LEADERSHIP also learnt that this would be the
second time that Okoyomon would be going on suspension as he suffered a similar
experience in 2007 for three months when Charles Soludo, who had appointed him
in the first place, was CBN governor.
After seven and a half years on the job,
Okoyomon has been the longest serving MD of the NSPMC, with previous chief
executives spending an average of five years in office.
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