The controversy over alleged missing oil remittances took another turn as All Progressives Congress (APC), claimed that it has evidence that the sum is pretty much higher than the $1.48 billion dollars in the forensic report.
Diezani Alison-Madueke, minister of Petroleum Resources had on Wednesday told State House Correspondents that the $1.48 billion is already being refunded to the Federation Account.
The forensic audit was conducted by an international audit firm, PriceWaterHouse Cooper (PwC), after the then Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), now Emir of Kano, His Highness Muhammad 11, caused an uproar that about $49 billion had been misappropriated from the account of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
He later brought the figure down to $20 billion at a Senate hearing on the allegation, while the Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala put it at $10.8 billion.
But faulting the amount, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, the APC Presidential Campaign director, Policy, Research and Strategy, told Bloomberg that the NNPC would need to refund more than $1.48 billion.
Fayemi added that the incoming APC administration of General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) would publish the full audit report of the NNPC and expects that the corporation will need to repay the government more than previously recommended.
The APC had during the recent election campaign asked the PDP-led Federal Government to publish the full report of the audit report, not the abridged version that was released by the office of the Accountant General of the Federation (AGF).
Fayemi said: “I have a figure that’s more than $1.5 billion that’s been talked about. We’ve seen credible information that what PwC says is more than that. We will release the report. We’ll make it available to Nigerians as soon as we have full information on this.”
Fayemi disclosed that the APC may also reorganise the NNPC, adding “NNPC will not be in the form or shape it’s currently in. Some measure of unbundling will happen.”
But Alison-Madueke disclosed that the NNPC had started refunding $1.48bn into the Federation Account as recommended by PwC.
She however did not disclose how much had so far been refunded by the corporation. The Federation Account Allocation Committee had on Monday night constituted a committee to find out the reasons for the delay in the refund of the sum.
Alison-Madueke however explained that the unremitted fund was owed by NPDC for a block that had been assigned from NNPC to NPDC.
She said: “The PriceWater- House Coopers forensic audit that was done a few weeks ago, in its recommendation mentioned that $1.48bn was owed by NPDC for a block that had hitherto been assigned from the NNPC to NPDC which is its subsidiary.
“They felt that the right process would be that NPDC will refund that money to the Federation Account. NPDC has apparently started those refunds and it is also in discussion with NNPC and DPR on same. So the refund has actually begun.” While saying that the payment was being done under her directives, she insisted that the sum was not missing but transferred by the NNPC to NPDC which is a subsidiary