Senate panel demands joint meeting with Finance Ministry, NNPCL, NUPRC over unresolved NEITI audit issues……
The Federal Ministry of Finance has blamed difficulties in obtaining records from the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) and other relevant agencies for the delay in resolving financial queries contained in the 2021–2023 Oil and Gas Sector audit report of the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI).
The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Raymond Omachi, disclosed this on Thursday when he appeared before the Senate Committee on Public Accounts to respond to financial issues raised in the audit report.
The committee questioned the Ministry over several unresolved transactions, including a $3 billion pre-export financing loan obtained in 2012 to fund subsidy payments.
NEITI had raised concerns over the recovery of the loan from monthly Federation revenue proceeds under the pre-export financing and Project Eagle agreements, saying the details remained unclear.
Another major issue concerns $722.6 million paid by Nigeria LNG Limited (NLNG) to NNPC in 2021 as dividends and interest earned on behalf of the Federation.
According to the audit report, the funds were neither remitted to the Federation nor adequately accounted for.
The Ministry was also unable to immediately respond to questions surrounding the operation of Nigeria’s refineries in 2021, when none was functioning despite about N200 billion reportedly spent on rehabilitation and related activities.
The audit further identified $221.283 million in overhead expenditure incurred by the National Petroleum Investment Management Services (NAPIMS) in 2021 as another issue requiring clarification.
Responding to the committee, Omachi said the Ministry could not provide complete answers because it was not directly involved in all the transactions under review and had experienced difficulties obtaining the necessary documentation from the agencies responsible.
“We don’t have direct involvement in all the issues raised, and the required provision of financial records from the affected agencies, particularly NNPCL, NUPRC, etc., is not there,” he said.
Omachi disclosed that the Ministry had engaged Arthur Andersen LLP to undertake a forensic audit of the transactions and reconcile the outstanding issues.
However, the committee expressed concern over the prolonged delay in concluding the exercise, noting that the Ministry had already extended the audit period twice, from six months to one year.
The Permanent Secretary subsequently called for the NNPCL and the Nigerian Upstream Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) to appear before the committee alongside the Ministry to provide explanations on the transactions under investigation.
“I know you have enormous powers that you can use to compel these agencies to appear before us. We are having challenges bringing them to the table so that we can resolve these issues,” Omachi said.
He added that the Ministry was prepared to engage the affected agencies before the committee to provide the necessary explanations and clarify the outstanding matters.
Following the submission, the committee chairman, Senator Ibrahim Dankwanbo, directed Omachi to organise a meeting involving the Ministry of Finance, NUPRC, NNPCL and any other agency whose participation would be required to resolve the queries.
Dankwanbo said the matters were not only of domestic concern but were also being monitored internationally, making it necessary for Nigeria to provide clear explanations and properly account for the transactions.
“I would like you to review the internal report and arrange a meeting involving the Ministry of Finance, the NUPRC, NNPC and any other agency whose participation is necessary to resolve the issues we have raised,” he said.
“As you are aware, these issues are being followed by the international community. They are not matters confined to Nigeria; they are in the public domain and are being monitored by people across the world. Therefore, if there are records or issues that need to be clarified and properly put in order, we should do so in the interest of our country. All of us have no other country except Nigeria.”
