NIGERIA: Buhari Vows To Investigate $20bn Oil Fund

The President- Elect, Major General Muhammadu Buhari, yesterday pledged to revisit the allegation that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) could not account for $20 billion of oil revenue. He told a delegation of the Adamawa State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) that visited him in Abuja that the way the issue was handled was not to the best standard practice as government only resorted to sacking the whistle blower. “Somebody raised the alarm that the money was missing and the only thing that government could do was to sack the person as governor of Central Bank; but he was made the Emir of Kano later. This issue would be revisited for us to know what happened,” he stated.

Former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, was suspended by President Goodluck Jonathan last year after he alleged that the NNPC had not turned over about $20 billion of oil revenue to the government, which earns two-thirds of its revenue from the commodity. The controversial allegation was investigated by the National Assembly and later the Federal Government commissioned PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) to carry out forensic audit into the NNPC accounts.

According to the highlights of the report released last February by the Auditor General of the Federation, PwC said there was no missing $20 billion, but recommended that NNPC should refund $1.48 billion to the Federation Account. Sanusi, now the Emir of Kano, said last month that the audit report did not sufficiently address the issue. Last week, APC Policy Director, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, told Bloomberg in an interview in Lagos that the corporation lied on the $1.48 billion, which it said the report recommended for it to refund.

Besides, he said the Buhari administration would release the full PwC report after its inauguration on May 29. “I have a figure that’s more than $1.5 billion that’s being talked about. We’ve seen credible information that what PwC says is more than that. We will release the report. We’ll make it available to Nigerians as soon as we have full information on this,” Fayemi stated. Buhari also told the Adamawa APC delegation that he had information that looted funds had been returned to the treasury since his election.

The President-elect, who spoke in Hausa, said: “I have heard that some funds have been returned to the nation’s treasury, but l can only confirm this when l see the treasury.” According to him, the best way to reposition Nigeria is to fight corruption, insecurity and unemployment. He said if these issues were tackled, the nation’s economy would be strong. Buhari restated the commitment of his incoming administration to urgently address the issue of unemployment, as the population of unemployed youths is dangerous to the nation.

Commenting on Boko Haram, the Presidentelect said he prayed that God would give him the strength to fight terrorism. Expressing appreciation to the armed forces over the feat so far recorded against Boko Haram, he wondered what must have gone wrong with the military known for its exploits in peacekeeping operations in countries such as Burma, Liberia, Sierra Leone that it took it long to rise to the challenge of fighting insurgency.

He assured the delegation that he would fix the infrastructural decay in the country and create the enabling environment for the people of Adamawa State, like other states of the federation, to exploit the natural resources that abound in the state. Adamawa State Governor- elect, Senator Bindow Jibrilla, who led the delegation, congratulated the President-elect for his electoral victory and urged him to help redress the problem of infrastructure, insecurity and youth unemployment plaguing the state.