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.
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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