Clash of interests, red tape, among other vices usually identified with the Nigerian civil service as hindering smooth operations were responsible for the non-release of the full findings of the report of a forensic examination conducted by PriceWaterHouseCoopers, an independent firm recently.
This is as the office of the Auditor-General for the Federation refused to release the report on a formal request by BudgIT Nigeria, in collaboration with Private Public Development Centre (PPDC), using the Freedom of Information Act (FOI) 2011.
BudgIT, a foremost Lagos-based civic tech organisation dedicated to ensuring fiscal transparency, accountability and education of the mass citizenry, had on February 25, 2015 submitted an FOI request to the office of the AGF asking for a copy of forensic audit report on the account of the NNPC to ascertain the true position of the alleged missing $20 billion from the corporation’s coffers.
According to the FOI Act 2011, requests must receive a mandatory reply within seven days of acknowledgement of receipt.
But, rather than oblige the companies for the benefit of the public which is yearning for the detailed report, a formal letter of response signed by Uche Okafor of the legal department on behalf of the AGF, stated that in line with the Federal Civil Service Rules, the AGF was requested to highlight the points raised by PwC in the Audit Report, explaining that the assignment carried out by PwC was that of an ‘Assurance Engagement’, in which the reporting channel was duly spelt out in the International Auditing Standards.
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“In light of the foregoing, neither the office of the Auditor-General for the Federation nor PwC has greater interest in this assignment in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 2011,” the letter read in part.
The reply with Ref NO: OAuGF/LU/GEN.CORR/VOL.1/10, dated March 10, 2015, which was obtained by BD SUNDAY, concluded that after a careful review of the information, the presidency has a great interest in the information been sought and consequently directed BudgIT and its partner to channel its application accordingly.
On request for audit report of FG accounts, the office of AGF wrote that the National Assembly has a greater interest in the information, citing Section 85 (2) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, explaining that any person authorised by the AGF shall have access to all the books, records, returns and other document related to those accounts.
President Goodluck Jonathan had recently come under fierce criticism following his government’s inability to disclose the full findings of investigations into the alleged missing $20 billion months after a forensic examination had been concluded.
Diezani Alison-Madueke, minister of Petroleum, had in a recent interview she granted The Financial Times of London said government could not publish the report ahead of elections as only the AGF has the powers to do so, and added that both she and the President were not opposed to the publication of the forensic report. She also said that the audited report vindicated her.
Stanley Achonu, BudgIT’s Operations Lead who signed the letter sent to the AGF, on behalf of BudgIT and PPDC, told BD SUNDAY that the request was precipitated by the recent announcement by the Petroleum Minister, that the AGF has been encouraged to release the full report.
He said BudgIT’s FOI request was a push for Nigerians to be privy to the entire contents of the report and was hopeful that the FG, in keeping with its promise of ensuring accountability in governance and in accordance with the statutes of the FOI Act will publish the full report as soon as possible.
“Audit reports complete the transparency and accountability cycle that includes public disclosure of revenue, publication of government budget including citizens’ budget and publicly available audit report of government process, revenue and expenditure,” he said.
He explained that at the heart of the two requests sent to the AGF was: issue of government revenue and expenditure, and the PwC’s on government revenue and remittance by NNPC, which he said was met to compel the AGF to disclose the full audited FG accounts from 2009 to 2012.
Stanley, who primarily resides in Lagos, further said he would be in Abuja on Monday, March 16, 2015 to begin the process of summiting the duo’s requests (PwC’s revenue and remittance by NNPC, and government revenue and expenditure) to both the Chief of Staff to the President and the National Assembly as directed by the office of the AGF, and maintained that the organisations he is representing would pursue the case to both legal and logical conclusions.
Joining the list of Nigerians calling on the President to make the findings public is Muhammadu Buhari, the presidential standard bearer of the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC), who urged President Jonathan to release the full report and publish it in national newspapers to allow Nigerians establish how their money was spent.
The undertaken of the forensic investigation was necessitated by an unremitted $20 billion oil revenue by the NNPC to the Federation Account as alleged by Lamido Sanusi Lamido, who was the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor at the time.
The controversy over the alleged missing money dated back to September 2013 when Sanusi sent a memo to President Jonathan, alleging that the NNPC had diverted oil revenues for at least 18 months, amounting to $49.8 billion, about N8 trillion which the now Emir of Kano later said was $20 billion before he was unceremoniously relieved of his duty.
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Finance minister, also carried out what was then termed “reconciliation of accounts” and consequently said the disputed amount was $10.8 billion; while the NNPC later said it spent the $10.8 billion on payments of fuel and kerosene subsidies as well as to protect oil installations from vandalism.
The Senate also mandated its Committee on Finance, led by Senator Ahmed Makarfi, to conduct an investigation into the alleged missing money. The committee came out with a report after “reconciliation” of all the agencies which made presentations that $47 billon out of the $67 billion had been credited to the Federation Account, leaving only $20 billion yet to be accounted for. The Committee also said the total crude oil lifted from January 2012 to July 2013 was $67 billion and not $65 billion as claimed by the former CBN boss.
But Adeleke Adedipe, former general manager, Corporate Security of Shell Nigeria, said the act establishing the NNPC itself has already made it compulsory for anything related to its accounts to be published, blaming Nigerians in general and media practitioners in particular for failing in their duty to use available legal means to compel government to release information that will promote transparency and accountability in the system.
NATHANIEL AKHIGBE
