December 15, (THEWILL) – Some oil and gas as well as investment experts have reacted to the Federal Government’s plan to audit the operations of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), describing it as an elaborate hoax that will yield no useful results.
Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Wale Edun recently disclosed plans by the Federal Government to audit the accounts of NNPCL.
Edun disclosed this after the release of the latest World Bank Nigeria Development Update in Abuja which referred to NNPCL activities as lacking in transparency
While insisting on the necessity for rigorous scrutiny, Edun stressed the government’s eagerness to ensure revenue inflows from the NNPCL and other revenue generating agencies.
“There will be earnest scrutiny and I am sure NNPCL is getting ready for that. We want revenue to come into the government coffers from NNPC and all other revenue agencies”, Edun said.
Reacting to the development some industry stakeholders and finance experts who spoke to THEWILL referred to the planned audit as deceitful and a calculated step by the government to pull the wool over the eyes of Nigerians after years of running the national oil company in the most opaque manner.
An investment expert and Managing Director/CEO, Taurus Oil & Gas Limited. Dr Nnaemeka Obiaraeri, said the government is not telling Nigerians the truth as NNPCL cannot be audited by the same government that has full control over it, without restructuring the organisation.
Obiaraeri, a former senior member of staff of NNPCL argued that the establishment has been run to feed the pockets of Nigerian leaders who he accused of hijacking the national oil company for their insatiable greed.
According to him, the government would pretend to be eager to please the World Bank but, in reality, nothing will come out of it because it is difficult for the government to indict itself over the deep-rooted corruption that the NNPC is notorious for over the years.
“Let us stop deceiving ourselves, nothing is going to come out of the audit. It will amount to nothing at the end of the day.
We maintain that for NNPCL to be efficient, accountable and transparent, attract massive investment and grow the value chain, NNPCL as a corporate entity should be made to be a limited liability company in reality,” Obiaraeri said.
He recounted how the NNPCL has been mismanaged by successive governments since 1999 and wondered why the national oil company could not be run the way other countries have managed theirs. He advocated for the unbundling of NNPCL and run in the manner Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) is structured.
His words: “Nigerian government since 1999 has always seen NNPCL as an opaque cash cow they can manipulate and do whatever they want to do.
“Muhammadu Buhari was petroleum minister under Olusegun Obasanjo between 1976 and 1979. He became president in 2015, the first thing he did was to corner the NNPCL. The greatest heist that was done to this country happened in the last eight years. I don’t know what President Tinubu wants to do with NNPCL.
“The truth of the matter is that the government cannot own NNPCL 100 percent and still be talking about auditing the establishment.
“NNPCL must divest at least 60 percent of its holding, bringing in private sector investors, like we have in NLNG. And then bring in corporate government into the place
“Let nobody deceive you, there is nothing meaningful they are going to do except to fulfil all righteousness. The World Bank has called them out, the next thing you will hear now is that they have constituted an audit committee, they will do this and that, and nothing will come out of it,” Obiaraeri told THEWILL in a telephone chat.
A Chartered Accountant and Oil and Gas operator, Bala Zaka, said the planned NNPCL audit is a joke because the government cannot audit itself the way NNPCL has been run over the years.
“The whole thing is a joke and will end up as a joke. Why must the Federal Government wait for the World Bank to talk before attempting to act on the ostrich?” Zaka said in a note to THEWILL.
A top federal government official who would not want to be quoted, wondered how the government will audit NNPCL “which the same leaders mindlessly looted through dubious contracts, questionable subsidy claims, crude oil theft, frivolous estacodes and several other acts. NNPCL funded the election campaigns of some political parties. What are they going to tell the public? Who are you going to hold responsible – Buhari or Tinubu?”
However, Edun had assured that “There will be earnest scrutiny and I am sure NNPCL is getting ready for that. We want revenue to come into the government coffers from NNPCL and all other revenue agencies
“The last two ministers of Finance, namely, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun and Mrs. Zainab Ahmed publicly said that the accounts of the NNPCL would be looked into, but there has been no report of such audit made public.”
This came a few days after former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, had advised President Bola Tinubu against occupying the office of the Minister for Petroleum Resources, saying such arrangement will make it difficult for the country to hold the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited accountable.
He made this known while delivering his remarks at the Bank Directors Summit organised by the Bank Directors Association of Nigeria on Thursday in Abuja.
Sanusi who was the CBN governor from June 2009 to February 2014, also judged the NNPCL as the “most opaque oil company in the world.
He slammed the NNPCL for allegedly failing to remit enough foreign exchange into the government coffers despite the removal of fuel subsidy by the current administration.
The former Emir of Kano also stressed the need to stabilise the foreign exchange market, noting that monetary policies in the last eight years had led to rising inflation and economic downturn in the country.
According to him, the idea of the president occupying the petroleum minister’s office will make it difficult for anyone to raise the question of accountability.
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