President Goodluck Jonathan on Monday received the report of forensic auditors engaged to carry out a detailed investigation into the activities of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Punch reports.
PriceWaterHouse, an accounting firm, was in March, 2014 hired to carry out the exercise following an allegation by the former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Lamido Sanusi, that $20bn was not remitted to the Federation Account by the NNPC.
Sanusi had written a letter to Jonathan that $49bbn was not remitted to the Federation Account by the NNPC, following the controversy which the letter generated, a committee was set up to reconcile the account.
Sanusi later said the unremitted fund was $12bn. He later again changed the figure to $20bn.
Uyi Akpata, the Nigeria Country Senior Partner of PriceWaterHouse, on Monday presented the report to the President on behalf of the firm, saying, “It is a privilege for us to have carried out this exercise on behalf of the government and I hope that you will find this report useful.”
Akpata did not give any insight into the forensic report.
In accepting the report, however, Jonathan said the media and indeed Nigeria would be interested in the results.
To this end, he directed the Auditor-General of the Federation to study the report and make the key highlights public within the week.
He said,”There has been so much of controversy over this NNPC and leakages or no leakages. I remember the Senate has also looked into it; it is also good that you professionals have also looked into it.
“What appears in the papers and the speculation is also very high, the figures that I cannot even imagine the country will make are being bandied in the newspapers.
“So, I am quite pleased that you have undertaken the forensic audit. Though it is voluminous, I will give it to the professionals.
“In government work, there are people that have the statutory responsibilities to handle such assignment, which is the Auditor-General of the Federation.
“So the Auditor-General will look at it and within the week, let us have key highlights because the media will want to know the key findings vis-a-vis the Senate’s findings and figures being bandied around in the newspapers. Nigerians are interested.”
The President admitted that the nation’s petroleum sector needed to be reformed. He further expressed hope that most of the lapses being noticed in the sector would be corrected by the time the Petroleum Industry Bill was passed into law.
The President said, “Nigerians don’t need to be scared, this is something that Nigerians are interested in. They (the audit firm) wanted to submit an interim report, but I said no, they must conclude this matter, because it is a forensic audit and there is no room for interim report so they must go back and conclude it and luckily they have concluded it.
“I hope we will not call them back, but where need be, we will call them back if there are issues that are not so clear, but we are happy with what we have done so far.
“I assure you that this is a precious document that the Accountant-General will keep and I will have my own copy, because even if I leave office, maybe when I write my memoir, I will use some part of it.
“But the kind of figure people bandy in the papers look so ridiculous.”
It would be recalled that Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi had accused the NNPC of failing to remit $20 Million from oil sales into the federation account, an allegation NNPC has vehemently denied.
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