Diezani: I want NNPC forensic audit report published but rabid opposition might politicise it

Diezani Alison-Madueke, minister of petroleum resources, says she is not opposed to the release of the full forensic audit report on the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

In an interview with Financial Times of London, she, however, added that the “rabid” opposition may find some minute detail to raise concern even though she has nothing to fear.

Only highlights of the audit, carried out by PwC, have been released to the public so far, with no indications that $20billion is missing.

Rather, the report said only $1.48billion was yet to be remitted to the national coffers by the corporation, according to the excerpts.

But the All Progressives Congress (APC) has demanded that the entire report be made public.

Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), had alleged that the NNPC illegally withheld $20bn from government coffers between January 2012 and July 2013.

Alison-Madueke told FT that both she and President Goodluck Jonathan would not oppose publication of the report.

She said there were “pros and cons” to publishing the full findings, saying the “rabid opposition” might “find all sorts of minute detail to create concern”.