BUHARI SET TO PROBE JONATHAN'S GOVT
A total probe of the administration run by immediate former
president, Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan is underway as the
National Economic Council, NEC, Ad-hoc Committee on the
Management of Excess Crude Account Proceeds and
Accruals into the Federation Account, headed by the
Governor of Edo State, Mr. Adams Oshiomhole, is to hire
two international forensic audit firms to probe revenue that
accrued into the Federation Account and how it was spent
under former Dr Goodluck Jonathan as President.
Mr. Oshiomhole told journalists at the end of the first
meeting of the committee in Abuja, yesterday that the
auditors would cover the period January 1, 2010 to June 1,
2015. It put paid to calls by the opposition Peoples’
Democratic Party, PDP, that Buhari should extend his probe
to the administrations of Jonathan’s predecessors, Alh.
Umaru Yar’ Adua.and Chief Olusegun Obasanjo.
Already, some revenue generating agencies have been
invited to brief the committee which will take detailed
briefings from all Ministries, Departments and Agencies,
MDAs of the Federal Government that deal directly with
revenue.
The focus will be on the Nigerian National Petroleum
Corporation, NNPC, the Nigeria Customs Service, the
Central bank of Nigeria, the Nigeria Extractive Industries
Transparency Initiative, NEITI, among others.
Other members of the committee included Gov. Nasir
Ahmed El-Rufai of Kaduna State, Ibrahim Dankwambo of
Gombe, and Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom.
He said that the committee did not want its actions to be
bogged down by political interpretations and that the
members were not professionals. Even if they were
professionals, he said that their duties as governors would
not allow them the time to do a thorough work.
His words, “We held our first primary session today here
with some of the revenue generating agencies that are
supposed to remit funds to the federation account. We had
a successful session with Customs, NPA, NEITI, SEC, FIRS,
and quite a number of others and next week we will also
hear from CBN, Ministry of Finance, Office of the
Accountant-General of the Federation.
For the remaining ones, we agree we are going to meet on
Thursday next week, NNPC, NPDC, DPR, NIMASA and other
remaining agencies.
We have started the work, with the idea to hear them out,
what they have been doing, with particular emphasis on
revenue accruing from these organizations and whether or
not these have been remitted to the Federation Account for
judicious distribution.
His words: “We realised that this is a task and given our
mandate, even if we were professional accountants
because we are sitting governors, we would not have the
time to do a forensic audit which this assignment entails.
“Therefore, we have agreed in line with our mandate to
appoint two reputable international audit firms to carry out
a thorough forensic audit, not only of NNPC, which is more
of excess crude, but other monies that accrued to the
Federation Accounts. We have other revenues like bonuses,
royalties, taxes, VAT that flow into the Federation Account.
“We are taking a holistic review of the entire process,
looking at all the agencies that make contribution of funds
to the federation account.
We are convinced that by appointing audit firms, we will
allow professionals to carry out this exercise, so that it will
be free of any political colouration and also we will ensure
the outcome of the investigation will.
“We have learned, we have listened and asked questions. I
think we all have a clear picture of what is happening in
those organizations before now. Some have information to
supply and we have drawn attention to those areas, they
are willing to oblige. We believe in the end, we will be able
to not just establish what had happened over the period but
much more important, going forward with the changes the
President has promised the country.
“It is not going to be business as usual. He started on a
clean slate and everybody knows the new rules of the game
and in particular as the laws apply to the various
institutions are implemented in full. So I think we started
very well. We are very confident that we are going to come
out with something that is going to be of immense benefits
to the Nigerian people”.
On the rationale for embarking on another audit report with
regards to the alleged missing funds, he said “Some reports
were produced by PWC but in that report the PWC
expressed their frustration and pointed to the fact that they
were not able to access all the information they needed and
that what they were able to produce was to the extent of
information that was made available to them.”
He added: “Audit can only be credible as much as
information that was made available to auditors. The good
news now is that with President Buhari, all the books will be
open, no agency has any protection. Any agency that
refuses to open the books then is ready to go on
confrontation with the authority.
“The forensic audit will act on the whole truth and nothing
but the truth so that all stakeholders will have basis to
formulate good policies and that Nigeria will never find
itself in this circle where huge sums of money are allegedly
diverted and unaccounted for. Audit has become a way of
life for all public institutions.”
On the duration of the audit exercise, Oshiomhole explained
that the committee had looked at it professionally. “We are
focusing on a five year circle. What we have agreed is that
we are going to carry out an audit for five years from 1st
January 2010 to 30th June 2015.
“If the audit report reveals that we need to go backward,
then we can do that. But for the first instance, this is the
period that we consider good.
“We can’t impose a time frame on them but will engage
them and by Thursday we will be able to make it public. We
need to listen to them and agreed with them on how much
time will be okay for them. We are all in a hurry to ensure
that the right thing is done. The emphasis is not on time but
doing thorough job.
“By next week we will meet with the big ones and we will
then be able to tell you the audit firms that we have
appointed. They are firms I am sure Nigerians will have
confidence in.
“At the end of the audit we will hear them out and reconcile
them with what the laws says and arrive at a position.
Given the volume of work and complicated nature of
issues, we agreed we need professionals to carry out the
audit. It is only the professionals that can handle it. It is not
good to compromise”.
Vanguard
president, Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan is underway as the
National Economic Council, NEC, Ad-hoc Committee on the
Management of Excess Crude Account Proceeds and
Accruals into the Federation Account, headed by the
Governor of Edo State, Mr. Adams Oshiomhole, is to hire
two international forensic audit firms to probe revenue that
accrued into the Federation Account and how it was spent
under former Dr Goodluck Jonathan as President.
Mr. Oshiomhole told journalists at the end of the first
meeting of the committee in Abuja, yesterday that the
auditors would cover the period January 1, 2010 to June 1,
2015. It put paid to calls by the opposition Peoples’
Democratic Party, PDP, that Buhari should extend his probe
to the administrations of Jonathan’s predecessors, Alh.
Umaru Yar’ Adua.and Chief Olusegun Obasanjo.
Already, some revenue generating agencies have been
invited to brief the committee which will take detailed
briefings from all Ministries, Departments and Agencies,
MDAs of the Federal Government that deal directly with
revenue.
The focus will be on the Nigerian National Petroleum
Corporation, NNPC, the Nigeria Customs Service, the
Central bank of Nigeria, the Nigeria Extractive Industries
Transparency Initiative, NEITI, among others.
Other members of the committee included Gov. Nasir
Ahmed El-Rufai of Kaduna State, Ibrahim Dankwambo of
Gombe, and Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom.
He said that the committee did not want its actions to be
bogged down by political interpretations and that the
members were not professionals. Even if they were
professionals, he said that their duties as governors would
not allow them the time to do a thorough work.
His words, “We held our first primary session today here
with some of the revenue generating agencies that are
supposed to remit funds to the federation account. We had
a successful session with Customs, NPA, NEITI, SEC, FIRS,
and quite a number of others and next week we will also
hear from CBN, Ministry of Finance, Office of the
Accountant-General of the Federation.
For the remaining ones, we agree we are going to meet on
Thursday next week, NNPC, NPDC, DPR, NIMASA and other
remaining agencies.
We have started the work, with the idea to hear them out,
what they have been doing, with particular emphasis on
revenue accruing from these organizations and whether or
not these have been remitted to the Federation Account for
judicious distribution.
His words: “We realised that this is a task and given our
mandate, even if we were professional accountants
because we are sitting governors, we would not have the
time to do a forensic audit which this assignment entails.
“Therefore, we have agreed in line with our mandate to
appoint two reputable international audit firms to carry out
a thorough forensic audit, not only of NNPC, which is more
of excess crude, but other monies that accrued to the
Federation Accounts. We have other revenues like bonuses,
royalties, taxes, VAT that flow into the Federation Account.
“We are taking a holistic review of the entire process,
looking at all the agencies that make contribution of funds
to the federation account.
We are convinced that by appointing audit firms, we will
allow professionals to carry out this exercise, so that it will
be free of any political colouration and also we will ensure
the outcome of the investigation will.
“We have learned, we have listened and asked questions. I
think we all have a clear picture of what is happening in
those organizations before now. Some have information to
supply and we have drawn attention to those areas, they
are willing to oblige. We believe in the end, we will be able
to not just establish what had happened over the period but
much more important, going forward with the changes the
President has promised the country.
“It is not going to be business as usual. He started on a
clean slate and everybody knows the new rules of the game
and in particular as the laws apply to the various
institutions are implemented in full. So I think we started
very well. We are very confident that we are going to come
out with something that is going to be of immense benefits
to the Nigerian people”.
On the rationale for embarking on another audit report with
regards to the alleged missing funds, he said “Some reports
were produced by PWC but in that report the PWC
expressed their frustration and pointed to the fact that they
were not able to access all the information they needed and
that what they were able to produce was to the extent of
information that was made available to them.”
He added: “Audit can only be credible as much as
information that was made available to auditors. The good
news now is that with President Buhari, all the books will be
open, no agency has any protection. Any agency that
refuses to open the books then is ready to go on
confrontation with the authority.
“The forensic audit will act on the whole truth and nothing
but the truth so that all stakeholders will have basis to
formulate good policies and that Nigeria will never find
itself in this circle where huge sums of money are allegedly
diverted and unaccounted for. Audit has become a way of
life for all public institutions.”
On the duration of the audit exercise, Oshiomhole explained
that the committee had looked at it professionally. “We are
focusing on a five year circle. What we have agreed is that
we are going to carry out an audit for five years from 1st
January 2010 to 30th June 2015.
“If the audit report reveals that we need to go backward,
then we can do that. But for the first instance, this is the
period that we consider good.
“We can’t impose a time frame on them but will engage
them and by Thursday we will be able to make it public. We
need to listen to them and agreed with them on how much
time will be okay for them. We are all in a hurry to ensure
that the right thing is done. The emphasis is not on time but
doing thorough job.
“By next week we will meet with the big ones and we will
then be able to tell you the audit firms that we have
appointed. They are firms I am sure Nigerians will have
confidence in.
“At the end of the audit we will hear them out and reconcile
them with what the laws says and arrive at a position.
Given the volume of work and complicated nature of
issues, we agreed we need professionals to carry out the
audit. It is only the professionals that can handle it. It is not
good to compromise”.
Vanguard
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