The former Secretary to the Government of the Federation stated on Tuesday this while giving evidence in court.

Mustapha spoke when he appeared as Prosecution Witness 4 in the ongoing fraud trial of Godwin Emefiele, the immediate past Governor of the CBN, before a Federal Capital Territory High Court in Maitama, Abuja.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission had alleged that on February 8, 2023, Emefiele connived with one Odoh Ocheme, who is now on the run, to obtain $6.2 million from the CBN, claiming that it was requested by the SGF “vide a letter dated 26th January, 2023 with Ref No. SGF.43/L.01/”

Led in evidence by the prosecution counsel, Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), on Tuesday, Mustapha noted that neither the documents came from former President Muhammadu Buhari nor his office.

He also denied receiving any amount from the said money.

Mustapha said: “All through my service year as the SGF, I never came across these documents it was claimed that Buhari signed.

“From the face value of this document, having served for five years and seven months as SGF, this document did not emanate from the president for the following reasons:

“A correspondence that has the seal of the Nigerian president does not carry a reference number.

“The seal is the authority.

“Secondly, I have looked at it and read that FEC (Federal Executive Council) decisions are not transmitted by letters.

“They are transmitted through extracts after conclusions are adopted.

“Thirdly, I am the custodian of FEC, the president will not refer executives’ conclusions to me.

“Also, in all the five years and seven months, I have never heard of the terms special appropriation provision referred to.

“The terms known to me, my lord, are appropriation as provided by the appropriation act normally passed by the National Assembly and when the government files drafts, it brings supplementary appropriation.

“In all the correspondences I have received from Buhari, it has never had ‘please accept the assurance of my highest regard’.

“I am his subordinate.

“My correspondences do not carry that.

“And lastly, looking at the signature, it is a failed attempt at reproducing Buhari’s signature.

“I will leave that to the experts.”

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The SGF expressed his delight on the visit of the National Commissioner and reinforced the need for the establishment of the Bureau in line with global best practice. He noted that Nigeria is fast becoming a data driven society hence, the need to curb the menace of data breaches. 

He said, “Data theft is one of the most thriving businesses in the world. Everywhere you go, every country is putting measures in place so that data of its citizens are protected because accessibility to people’s data, unauthorized ones, would invariably allow anybody doing that to take absolute control over the people’s lives, from their financial transactions to their health records, to their access to certain information which can be manipulated.

“I am glad that we are starting well, by laying the foundation that is required, which is having an institution by way of the Bureau.”

He also assured the NDPB of the federal government’s commitment to creating an enabling environment for the Bureau to achieve its statutory obligations by ensuring that the needed legislative framework is put in place.

The SGF assured that the Federal Government would do everything within its capacity to support the Bureau by ensuring that the needed legislative framework and service-wide circulars were worked out.

In his words: “I have listened to you and I have seen the prospects of the Bureau. I would want to assure you that if there is anything I can do to ensure that the necessary legislation is put in place as quickly as possible, I’m ready to do it. Because you are operating with regulation that was put up earlier, but you need a legislative framework that would strengthen your hands, even your surveillance over organizations that are supposed to process data – your ability to impose fines and penalties in cases of infractions.

“I want to thank you for this visit and to assure you that the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation is willing to be one of your strongest advocates. And if need be, at the appropriate moment, you can work along with the Permanent Secretary, General Services Office so that you can craft a service wide circular to ensure compliance by the MDAs.”

Speaking earlier, National Commissioner/CEO of NDPB, Vincent O. Olatunji, said that the purpose of the visit was to acquaint the SGF with the activities of the Bureau and to seek collaboration with his office toward the implementation of a robust data protection regulation in Nigeria.

He also appealed for the institutionalization of data protection in the public sector through the issuance of a service-wide circular to all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) for compliance with the provisions of the Nigeria Data Protection Regulation (NDPR).

According to him, the Bureau has embarked on a sensitization tour to different MDAs to keep them abreast of what the Bureau is doing, as enshrined by the law in data protection, and to also get their buy-in.

“We are taking the lead to ensure that we have a principal law for the data protection in the country. What we are doing now is to create awareness. We have visited more than 35 public sector organizations. We have discovered that in the audit report, the performance of the public sector is very poor, just 4 percent while the financial sector is 49 percent. So, we have been visiting major data controllers in the public sector to create awareness. That is why we are here today too brief SGF,” he said.

He further said that the Bureau is ready to build the capacity of public servants in data protection with the aim of creating awareness on the provisions of the Nigeria Data Protection Regulation (NDPR).

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