PriceWaterhouseCoopers To Conduct NNPC Audit Over Missing $20bn
The name of forensic auditors to investigate in detail the activities of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has been finally revealed.
* Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and Bob Diamond on the Africa Rising panel at WEF Africa 2014 in Abuja. Photo credit – @DoubleEph
The Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, informed at the ongoing World Economic Forum for Africa that accounting firm – PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC) – has been appointed to carry out the exercise.
The exercise would be carried out within 12-16 weeks under the supervision of the Office of the Auditor General of the Federation.
The minister expressed hope that the audit would help to solve the mystery of missing oil money.
The immediate past Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, who was suspended on February 20, 2014, had blown the whistle on a missing $20 billion, which he claimed was not remitted to the federation account by the NNPC.
In her reaction, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala claimed had been calling for an independent forensic audit since February 13, 2014. However, it has been authorized by President Jonathan on March 12, 2014 only.
Analysts believe that positive attitude to this decision by Okonjo-Iweala was a part of a larger PR campaign to save minister's reputation and signal to the international financial community on positive changes in Nigeria’s oil and finance sectors.
Source: Legit.ng
