After much deliberation, the Federal Government has decided to hire a third-party auditor to confirm the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited’s N2.7 trillion gasoline subsidy claim against the government. The unidentified auditor would help the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation ascertain the actual amount due by the government, according to The PUNCH. This event occurs five months after the proposal was presented in April 2024 during the monthly meeting of the Federation Allocation Accounts Committee.
Ali Mohammed, Director of Home Finance at NNPC, has not provided updates on the petrol subsidy claim, despite President Bola Tinubu’s declaration that the subsidy is gone.
“We have not received any payment from the Federation since the provision of the N6tn in 2022 and the N3.7tn in 2023,” he declared. This indicates that the Federal Government is unable to pay, hence we have kept funding the subsidy with NNPC cash flow. We are unable to proceed with construction unless they pay for up to N2.8 trillion of NNPC’s cash flow from the subsidy regime
The procurement department of the finance ministry has initiated a selection process for an external auditor, as per the minutes of the recent FAAC meeting.
The minute stated as follows: “On the forensic audit covering the period 2015 to 2021 to authenticate claims made by NNPC and the Federation regarding N2.7 trillion that NNPC Limited withheld: The Director of Home Finance stated that the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation was still working on the issue and that the Ministry’s Procurement Department had also set up procedures for the hiring of an outside auditor to help OAuGF complete the task. The Chairman of the Commissioners’ Forum/HCF, Ekiti State, offered commentary on the matter and recommended that, given the ongoing nature of the activity, the audit review term be extended until December 2023.
Also, the Permanent Secretary of Finance, Lydia Jafiya, suggested the need to limit the scope of the audit exercise to cover the period 2021 to June 2022, when NNPC was a corporation before transitioning to a Limited Liability Company.
Concluding, the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, appreciated the contributions of members on the issue and expressed optimism that the exercise would be speedily executed.
