Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the minister of finance and coordinating minister of the economy, says she has not “disowned” audit firm Pricewaterhouse Coopers as has been claimed in some media reports.
According to Okonjo-Iweala, her recent statement denying the allegation that she appointed the firm to audit the accounts of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), does not amount to disowning the firm.
“Contrary to reports by Premium Times and some other media, the Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has not disowned PriceWaterHouse Coopers, the international audit firm which carried out the recent audit of the alleged unaccounted for $20 billion,” Paul C Nwabuikwu, her special adviser, said a statement.
“This is because the forensic audit was actually proposed by Dr Okonjo-Iweala as the best way to get to the truth following the disagreement (and widely conflicting figures) between former CBN Governor (and current Emir of Kano) Malam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi and the NNPC over Sanusi’s allegation of unaccounted for funds.
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“Her proposal was accepted by President Goodluck Jonathan as well as the Senate, and the President subsequently directed the Auditor General of the Federation to lead the work. The Auditor-General later appointed PwC to carry out the audit.
Nwabuikwu said the minister “respects the process which produced the audit” but added that “requesting the audit is of course not the same thing as hiring the auditor”.
“This was why we made it clear in our last press release that the suit filed against Dr Okonjo-Iweala before a Lagos High Court by SIAO Partners alleging that she appointed PwC to carry out the audit is frivolous and uninformed.
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“We urge the relevant media to update their information based on this clarification.”
1 comments
Once upon a time, there was a Arthur Andersen. Hope history wouldn’t repeat itself in Price Water House Cooper? Candidly and professionally, the forensic audit must be necessarily repeated by another consulting firm.
Another area that demands independent forensic review is the budgetary expenditure on Boko Haram. There are so many unanswered questions about why the sudden and late successes in the fight. Why now and not years before now? Why the refusal of foreign supports at the heat of the crisis, when many Nigerians were been killed? Was the insurgency deliberately allowed to drag for years in other to milk hot billions of dollars from the system?
Security budget has always gone unaccounted for in the history of Nigeria. The Boko Haram security budget might be the biggest hot money ever.
If we must achieve the Nigeria of our dream, it must start with periodic exhaustive, independent, transparent and accountable stewardship audit of those that manage our collective resources.