BREAKING NEWS, Politics
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TWO international audit firms are to do forensic audit of accounts of some Nigerian revenue generating public agencies. The KPMG and PricewaterhouseCooper, PwC, were on Thursday, August 13, engaged by the federal government to examine the books of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS; Nigerian Customs Service, NSC, and other revenue generating agencies.
Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State disclosed this after the meeting of the committee of five set up by the Vice President Yemi Osinbajo-led National Economic Council, NEC. The committee, which has Oshiomhole as its chair, has governors Ibrahim Dakwambo (Gombe), Nasiru El-Rufai (Kaduna) and Udom Emmanuel (Akwa Ibom) as members.
Oshiomhole said appointment of the firms was to allow for professionalism. He said that the revenue generating agencies were supposed to remit their revenues to the federation account in accordance wiith Sections 80 and 162 of the 1999 Constitution.
The governor said: “Having looked at the size of the assignment and the issues that have been raised, we are convinced that we need a professional approach. And so, we have decided to appoint two audit firms including KPMG and PWC to carry out a forensic audit of all the agencies under reference and to establish all the facts that we need.”
He said the committee had confidence in the professionalism of the two firms and that the federal government would decide what to do with their findings after the exercise.
A time-frame was not given for the auditors to the assignment, but Oshiomhole said they had been told to be fast and thorough in the discharge of their duties without compromising standards.
The governor disclosed that the KPMG had declined to do the auditing when approached by the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan because the political environment was not conducive and that the PwC which agreed to do the job then was frustrated because some organisations refused to open their books.
“There is room now to do a more thorough audit because we now have a completely new political environment. We have a president that is absolutely committed to transparency and one that has demonstrated enormous political will to ensure that these public institutions are run, not only in compliance with the laws of the land, but they are run on the basis of international best practices,” Oshimhole said. The government agencies at the committee’s session on Thursday were: the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA; Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN; Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR; FIRS; Security and Exchange Commission, SEC; NCS; ministry of Finance and the office of the accountant-general of the federation.
— Aug 14, 2015 @ 13:25 GMT
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