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Rabiu allegedly had the backing of the ousted Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun who at the time reportedly wrote a memo to the now-suspended Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, mandating him to facilitate the deal which would later see Nigeria losing a whopping N1.3 billion in sharp practice involving the controversial billionaire Abdul Samad Rabiu in a supposed contract which he never executed since 2017.
Not only did Rabiu not execute the contract, but he also submitted a Sterling Bank account number 0062487976 belonging to one of his companies, BUA Rice Limited which he eventually used to receive the payment even though at the time he owned nothing close to a functional Rice Mill known to anyone in Nigeria.
ENigeria Newspaper understands that it was later in the year 2022 that the controversial billionaire set a target to commence operations of its rice business. The Rice Mill is yet to be completed to date, this is even as the National Assembly continued to quiz the CBN for an explanation on how BUA Rice Limited made use of the money paid into its account from Ways and Means.
The full exclusive report published by Secret Reporters an online news platform is hereby reproduced below.
Exclusive: How BUA Abdul Samad Rabiu Scammed Nigeria of N1.3 Billion By Making Emefiele and Ex-Finance Minister to Pay Him For Rice Supply Despite Having No Milling Plant
The day was bright in the office of the Federal Ministry of Finance in Abuja.
The then Minister, Kemi Adeosun bereft of what to do, picked her pen and wrote a memo to the now-suspended Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele.
This memo would later lead to Nigeria losing N1.3 billion to one of Nigeria’s richest men, Mr. Abdul Samad Rabiu, in a deal that insiders say was never fully executed.
With memo number, HMF/CBN/FOOD/1/2017 dated June 2nd, 2017, Adesoun attaching an approval from the immediate past Vice President, Yemi Osibanjo who was then Acting President, instructed the CBN Governor to dole out a whooping N5.8 billion to selected companies in the name of ‘Emergency intervention of food security to support the population affected by insurgency in the North East’.
The memo exclusively in the hands of SecretReporters revealed that five establishments were to share the money of which Rabiu’s own was among. The memo stated that the Accountant General of the Federation would send a formal mandate to support the Minister’s request.
Emefiele directed the DG (Ops) to “Pls process payment immediately”. On June 7th via an internal secret memo, Y.M.
Sanusi, the CBN director of the Corporate Secretariat wrote to the Director of the Banking & Payments System via the Deputy Governor of Operations on the Decisions of the committee of Governors to make payment to Rabiu.
The billionaire submitted one of his companies known as Bua Rice Limited with Sterling Bank account number 0062487976 to receive the money.
This payment to the billionaire would later be taken from the controversial Ways and Means account of the FG.
In making the payment, Sanusi wrote “I write to inform you that the Committee of Governors at its 512th Meeting held on Wednesday 7th June 2017 considered Memorandum CG/JUN/512/2017/12 on the request from the Honorable Minister of Finance for the payment of N5,865,671,389.26 for Emergency Intervention on Food Security to Support the population affected by insurgency in the North-East and GRANTED ANTICIPATORY APPROVAL PENDING RATIFICATION BY THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS.
With the masterstroke, Rabiu smiled to the bank, becoming a billion Naira richer.
While BUA was telling the public about its partnership with farmers in Kano State and urging them to key into the CBN Anchors Borrows Scheme around February 2017 as well as supporting the government in establishing 200,000 tonnes rice processing plant, it hid away from the public that the company was vigorously pursuing ways to take away over a billion Naira from the same government treasury four months later.
Ironically, while BUA Rice Limited pocketed public funds in 2017, it was in the year 2022 that it set a target to commence operations of its rice business. The Rice Mill is yet to be completed to date, while the National Assembly has continued to ask the CBN for an explanation on how BUA Rice Limited made use of the money paid into its account from Ways and Means.
