Yemisi Izuora/Joseph Bakare
The Auditor General of the Federation, Mr. Samuel Ukura, has released the recommendations of the PriceWaterHouse Coopers (pwc) forensic audit report on the $20 billion oil missing money, part of which is refund directive of the sum of $1.48bn, by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC).
The release which is in line with President Goodluck Jonathan’s promise while receiving the audit report from the pwc country’s representative, directed the two oil agencies to pay the sum to the Federation account.
Former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, (CBN) Emir Lamido Sanusi Lamido launched the debate last year, when he exploded that the sum of $49 billion was missing from the NNPC, but later reversed the figure to $20 billion.
The controversy lingered, culminating in frictions between Lamido, NNPC and Presidency. Eventually, the former CBN boss was directed in February last year to proceed on compulsory leave.
There have been two different shits relating to release of the forensic audit since June last year when the accounting firm was contracted to carry out the findings.
President Jonathan has somewhat prepared ground for the recommendation in his remarks after receiving the report when he retorted he could not imagine the unimaginable figures being “bandied” and flying in the newspapers. He had promised the highlight would be made public before the week runs out.