Refund of the missing $1.48 billion from the account of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has already commenced, Diezani Alison-Madueke, the petroleum minister, has said.
This is even as she denied reports that she was seeking asylum in some foreign countries and that she was consulting with former head of state, Abdusalami Abubakar, for a soft landing after she leaves office.
Speaking to journalists at the Presidential Villa, Abuja after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting, Alison-Madueke said the missing money which was owed by the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC), a subsidiary of NNPC, was not missing but transferred by NNPC to NPDC.
She admitted, however, that there were gaps in NNPC.
The forensic audit conducted by the audit firm of PricewaterhouseCoopers on behalf of the Federal Government on the operations of NNPC had indicted the management of the corporation for various questionable transactions.
Part of the recommendations had included that the NPDC, the upstream subsidiary of the NNPC, should refund the about $1.48 billion to the federation account following various un-reconciled transactions.
The forensic audit had been commissioned following allegations by the immediate past governor of the CBN, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, that about $20 billion oil money was missing from the NNPC.
The petroleum minister said “PricewaterhouseCoopers forensic audit that was done few weeks ago in its recommendation mentioned that $1.48 billion was owed by NPDC for a block that had hitherto been assigned from the NNPC to NPDC which is its subsidiary and they felt that the right process would be that NPDC will refund that money to the federation account. NPDC has apparently started those refunds and it is also in discussion with NNPC and DPR on same. So the refund has actually begun”.
Refuting reports that she was seeking asylum in other countries and lobbying for a safe landing after office, she noted that she had not been indicted of any crime and therefore needed no soft landing.
According to her, she has stepped on big toes in the process of doing her job and had succeeded in opening up the sector to many more Nigerians, saying this may not have gone down too well with those who are now peddling the stories about her.
