December 14, (THEWILL) – Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Wale Edun has disclosed plans by the Federal government to audit the accounts of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL).
Edun disclosed this after the release of the latest World Bank Nigeria Development Update on Wednesday in Abuja.
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
“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,” the minister said
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 adjudged the NNPC 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 office will make it difficult for anyone to raise the question of accountability.
Sam Diala is a Bloomberg Certified Financial Journalist with over a decade of experience in reporting Business and Economy. He is Business Editor at THEWILL Newspaper, and believes that work, not wishes, creates wealth.
