Where Is The Money??? Reps Give FG Ultimatum Over NNPC Audit Report
Accounts yesterday issued a one-week ultimatum to
the country's finance minister, Dr Okonjo-Iweala and
the auditor-general of the federation (AuGF) Mr
Samuel Tokura, to forward to it the full report of the
forensic audit of the Nigeria National Petroleum
Corporation (NNPC).
The House Committee threatened sanctions if the
listed parties failed to forward the forensic audit
report released by PricewaterhouseCoopers, the
reputable firm hired to probe the allegation.
Chairman of the committee, Hon. Solomon
Olamilekan Adeola, disclosed this yesterday at a
media briefing.
The move by the lawmakers is not unconnected to
the demand by LEADERSHIP Newspaper, coming
under the Freedom of Information Act, for the AuGF
Office to release the full forensic audit report of the
NNPC.
Adeola (APC, Lagos) recalled that following the
allegation that about $20 billion was un-remitted by
the NNPC to the federation account by the former
CBN governor, the minister of finance, Dr Ngozi
Okonjo-Iweala, had commissioned
PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) to carry out a
forensic audit on the matter.
He lamented that several weeks had passed and
several demands had been made by the committee
to the executive and a resolution of the House had
been passed demanding the full report," but we have
not been given the full report."
According to him, the minister is "a culpable official if
the allegation is proven" that the firm to carry out the
forensic audit was commissioned and appointment
by her "without the involvement, or at least the input
of the auditor-general whose office is eminently and
exclusively empowered for the duty by the 1999
constitution.
"It took quite a while and the public outcry for
snippets of the report to surface, albeit in the press.
Mr President was reported to have direct the auditor-
general to study, analyse and release the report to
the press. A highly condensed version of the report
was eventually released as directed," he said.
Citing Section 85 of the 1999 constitution, he said the
House needs the full report for its oversight work,
adding that since the auditor-general had already put
the report in the public domain, it is also important
that he should lay it before the National Assembly.
The chairman, therefore, gave the AuGF one week to
submit the report on behalf of the federal
government.
"The full report on the forensic audit by PwC, which
must include the initial draft report, the executive
summary, management/internal control letters,
should be forwarded to the National Assembly not
later than one week from today (yesterday)," he
stated.
Adeola, who described report as "curious" noted that
by virtue of section 85(6) of the constitution, the AuGF
ought not to be directed by Mr President to deal with
the report "in a particular manner," adding that the
report had been unduly delayed.
MTEF: Senate wants N360bn service wide votes
probed
….. Pegs oil benchmark at $ 52, exchange rate at
N190 per dollar
….Slashes SURE-P vote with N100m, capital and
recurrent expenditure
The Senate yesterday moved for the scrapping of the
general provision of funds for various ministries,
departments and agencies (MDAs) of government
under the service wide votes (SWV), while calling for
an investigation into the details of the votes.
This was contained in the report of the Senate Joint
Committee on Finance and National Planning,
Economic Affairs and Poverty Alleviation on the
2015-2017 Medium Term Expenditure Framework
(MTEF) and Fiscal Strategy Paper which was passed
by the Senate yesterday.
Service wide vote is a contingency fund of MDAs
domiciled in the ministry of finance.
Among others, the lawmakers directed the
movement of N63bn Presidential Amnesty
Programme in the SWV to the Ministry of Niger Delta
Affairs, stating that there is no reason to include the
funds in the SWV when there is a ministry that is in
charge of the affairs of the region.
Similarly, the senators also demanded the movement
of the N22bn provision for internal operations of the
armed forces, also domiciled in the SWV, to the
ministry of defence, and that all sums provided as
arrears of pension and gratuity be reclassified from
SWV and sent to relevant heads.
The recommendations, as adopted by the senators,
also provided that the total expenditure of Subsidy
Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-
P) be reduced from N102.50 billion to N21.03 billion
due to fall in the price of crude oil, while details of
projects under SURE-P should be attached to the
annual budget estimates for approval by the National
Assembly.
Concerned that the monitoring of kerosene subsidy is
difficult for lawmakers, the senators called for its
scrapping if no progress is recorded on the
implementation, availability and accessibility of the
domestic fuel.
Similarly, the Senate approved the downward review
of the petrol subsidy payment from N200bn to
N100bn while kerosene subsidy was reduced from
N91.08bn to N45.52bn, due to the falling price of
crude.
On the total recurrent projection, the Senate reduced
it from N2.616trn to N2.584trn and increased the
total capital expenditure from N633.53bn to
N7000.78bn.
Total statutory transfers were reduced from
N411.85bn to N363.27bn and total non-oil revenue
increased from N3,539.07trn to N4, 024.11trn.
In his contribution to the report, the chairman of the
Senate Committee on Rules and Business, Senator Ita
Enang (PDP, Akwa Ibom North East) stressed the
need to diversify the economy and source for
additional funds from non-oil sectors. He noted that
the solid mineral sector can generate revenue for the
country if given enough appropriation.
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