Former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and now Emir of Kano, Muhammad Sanusi II says contrary to the claim by the Petroleum Minister Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, the auditors’ report on the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation’s (NNPC’s) books has revealed that about $18.5billion of NNPC’s earnings was not remitted to the treasury,
Emir Sanusi II who was reacting to the PwC Audit Report that was recently made public by the federal government said the breakdown of the NNPC’s account of how it used that money, raises serious questions about the legality of the conduct of the state’s oil company.
In an article titled “Unanswered questions on Nigeria’s missing oil revenue billions”, in the “Financial Times”, the former CBN boss wrote: “Contrary to the claims of Petroleum Minister Diezani Alison-Madueke, the audit report does not exonerate the NNPC. It establishes that the gap between the company’s oil revenues between January 2012 and July 2013 and cash remitted to the government for the same period was $18.5bilion.
He said the only thing left to be done is for the authority to hold anyone found culpable in these transactions accountable and commence legal proceedings against them since “Nigerians did not vote for an amnesty for anyone”.
Sanusi said: “The lines of investigation suggested by this audit need to be pursued. Any officials found responsible for involvement in this apparent breach of trust must be charged.”
Giving details of what he described as a “scam that violated the constitution” and which he alleged resulted in the siphoning of money from the treasury,” and by extension, his suspension as CBN governor, Sanusi said the perpetrators of the exercise relied on the supposed kerosene subsidy purportedly granted by the late President Umaru Yar’Adua.
He pointed out that contrary to that view, the kerosene subsidy had been vacated, going by the statement attributed to the Executive Secretary of the Petroleum Products Pipeline Marketing Company (PPPMC).
His words: “ The auditors say a significant part of the unremitted funds is supposed to have gone towards a kerosene subsidy that had been stopped two and a half years earlier by the late President Umaru Yar’Adua. His decree never appeared in the official gazette, leading some to question whether it ever had legal force.
“Evidence disclosed in the report suggests this is a sideshow. The executive secretary of the agency charged with administering subsidies confirmed that, acting on Yar’Adua’s orders, it had ceased granting subsidies on kerosene. There was no appropriation for such a subsidy in the 2012 or 2013 budgets,” he stated.
He said throughout all this, “Nigerians paid N120-N140 a litre of kerosene, far more than the supposed subsidised price of N50, yet the state oil company withheld $3.4billion to pay for a subsidy that in effect did not exist”.
Sanusi said besides the subsidy matter, he was interested in knowing whether the NNPC remitted to the government the entire proceeds of its crude oil sales, and that if it did not, whether there is proof of the purpose to which the unremitted amounts were applied, as well as ascertaining whether the Corporation has the legal authority to withhold these funds.
See the complete Forensic Audit Report on NNPC unedited at Ripples Open publication segment.
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Apachee zooma
May 15, 2015 at 5:57 am
Bold! It takes more than courage to speak up and maintain a position. Hugs!
liquasa
May 15, 2015 at 11:15 am
Chaiii..can will have someone like this in Nigeria system of government so that trust and good leadership example can follow through ?
de don
May 15, 2015 at 11:16 am
Sanusi chop knuckles your isi is there…