The report should not be swept under the carpet
It is no longer news that the forensic audit report on the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) conducted by Price Waterhouse Cooper (PwC), which was eventually made public by the Auditor-General of the Federation, indicted the NNPC and its subsidiary, the Nigeria Petroleum Development Company (NPDC) for three major irregularities; failing to remit $1.48billion or N251.6billion into the federation account between January 2012 and June 2013; owes $2.20billion in royalty and petroleum profit tax; and the unwholesome payment of $3.38billon as kerosene subsidy. This indictment totaled $7.06billion.
Before the commissioning of the forensic audit, there had been an allegation by the former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor, now Emir of Kano, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, that about $20billion was unaccounted for or fraudulently appropriated by the NNPC; an amount which ought to be paid into the federation account. An allegation which many believed the government was not comfortable with; and the remote cause for his ouster as governor of CBN. In the face of that allegation, a Senate Committee that probed the accounts of the NNPC returned a verdict of no wrong done by the corporation. It took the works of PwC – an international audit firm – to unveil these anomalies.
But in a prompt response to the audit report, the NNPC rather than see the indictment in its true perspective saw the report as absolving it from the $20billion unremitted oil revenue as alleged by Sanusi. A statement from the corporation read: “PwC has absolved the NNPC of culpability over the allegation of non-remittance of $20billion. What is due for remittance to the Federation Account is $1.48billion.” While the corporation is celebrating its so-called vindication by the PwC’s report, it failed to tell Nigerians why it took over two years and until the PwC’s report before acknowledging and agreeing to pay the$1.48 billion into the Federation Account. Was it that the NNPC’s management was not aware that that amount was in their coffers waiting to be remitted?
Many industry analysts and concerned stakeholders have overtime raised fears about what they perceived as monumental corruption in NNPC and the fact that for several years the accounts of the corporation remained unaudited until this forensic audit. No doubt, the report has confirmed these fears. For instance, the report queries the payment of over N575billion in kerosene subsidy, when there is a presidential directive against that and the Petroleum Product Pricing and Regulatory Agency (PPPRA)has ceased granting subsidy on kerosene in compliance with the directive. The NNPC will need to tell Nigerians who the beneficiaries of the kerosene subsidy are and why, because kerosene is not subsidized in the open market.
Perhaps, the most important recommendation of the report is the review and restructuring of the NNPC’s operation model, which PwC says; “the current model which has been in place since the creation of the corporation is unsustainable.” This Newspaper agrees no less with the recommendation. As it is, were the NNPC not to be a behemoth and the mainstay of the nation’s economy, it would have gone the way of other failed national corporations that went under as a result of their operational structures and corruption. It is against this background that Nigerians will whole-heartedly welcome government’s implementation of the PwC report. The report should not be swept under the carpet.
Be that as it may, government should endeavour at all times to be seen as patriotic in the discharge of its duties. NNPC is government owned and Nigeria has ably qualified and competent local auditors; government ought not to have appointed foreign auditors to do a forensic report on NNPC. It doesn’t speak well of us a nation, and it represents the lack of faith by government on our local auditors.
