Buhari to Publish PwC Forensic Audit on NNPC

President-elect Muhammadu Buhari’s administration will publish the full audit of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and expects the state-run oil firm to repay the government more than previously recommended, former Ekiti State Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, has said.

According to a Bloomberg report, Buhari’s All Progressives Congress (APC) believes NNPC may need to refund more than the $1.48 billion stated in the highlights of a PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC) report released by the Auditor-General of the Federation in February, Fayemi, who is also the APC Presidential Campaign Director of Policy, said Tuesday in an interview at his residence in Lagos. Ohi Alegbe, NNPC’s spokesman, declined to comment.

“I have a figure that’s more than $1.5 billion that’s been talked about,” said Fayemi. “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.”

Former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor and now Emir of Kano, Muhammad Sanusi II, was suspended by President Goodluck Jonathan last year after he alleged the NNPC hadn’t turned over about $20 billion of oil revenue to the government, which earns two-thirds of its revenue from the commodity.

Sanusi also said last month that the issue wasn’t addressed sufficiently.

The oil company said the PwC report, which Jonathan’s government hasn’t published in full, absolved it of Sanusi’s allegations. It has started to refund the $1.48 billion, Petroleum Minister Diezani Alison-Madueke told reporters on Wednesday.

The APC may also reorganise the NNPC, which regulates the petroleum sector and takes part in production through joint ventures with Royal Dutch Shell Plc., Exxon Mobil Corp., Total SA, Chevron Corp. and other companies, Fayemi said.

“NNPC will not be in the form or shape it is currently in,” Fayemi said. “Some measure of unbundling will happen.”
During the March elections, Buhari became the first opposition leader to oust a sitting president since the country’s independence from the United Kingdom in 1960. He will take power on May 29. (Thisday)