Forensic experts to probe GEJ govt

In from Ali Smart …

The Muhammadu BUhari administration has finalized plans to probe into the financial activities of his predecessor, Goodluck Jonathan, as two top flight international accounting firms are to be engaged to carry out forensic audit of proceeds and accruals into the Federation Account in the last five years.

The National Economic Council Adhoc Committee on the Management of Excess Crude Account Proceeds and Accruals into the Federation Account took the decision Thursday night to engage two international accounting firms to assist it with the exercise.

Addressing journalist shortly after the meeting, the Chairman of the committee and Edo state governor Mr. Adams Oshiomhole said the committee decided to engage the services of the two accounting firms in order to thoroughly investigate how proceeds into the account was managed.

Oshiomhole stated that the forensic audit would cover a five year period from January 2010 till June 2015, adding that the five year period may be extended to cover other previous years if required.

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Oshiomhole disclosed that they now know that while many Nigerians were only aware of the excess crude account, “we have other revenues like bonuses, royalties and taxes part of which flow into the federation account depending on the budget estimate. So we are taking a holistic review of the entire process and looking at all the agencies that were supposed to make contributions to fund the federation account.”

The Edo state governor said the National Economic Council was “convinced that by appointing international audit firms, we will allow professionals to carry out this exercise so that it will be free from any political coloration and also ensure that the outcome of the investigation will command interest and confidence of all the stakeholders and the Nigerian public.”

He said the outcome of the last forensic audit carried out by PricewaterHouse Coopers was not detailed enough as the accounting firm even admitted that it didn’t get adequate information to perform its audit exercise.

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The National Economic Council Adhoc Committee on the Management of Excess Crude Account is made up five governors: Mr Adams Oshiomhole the Governor of Edo state, Ibrahim Dankwaabo of Gombe State , Emmanuel Udom of Akwa Ibom state, Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State and Nasir El Rufai the Governor of Kaduna State.

The committee at its inaugural meeting yesterday met with representatives of revenue generating agencies such as Customs, Securities and Exchange Commission, Central Bank of Nigeria, and Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission.

Other agencies that appeared before the committee are representatives from the Nigeria Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative, the Federal Ministry of Finance, the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation, and the Federal Inland Revenue Service.

Oshiomhole said the committee would be meeting with other revenue generating agencies in the petroleum industry like Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC) among others next week to get their inputs on how much was earned and remitted into the federation account.

He said it is after next Thursday’s meeting that the names of the two accounting firms would be announced.

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