22 April 2015, Lagos – The All Progressives Congress, APC, Wednesday faulted PricewaterhouseCoopers’ (PWC) audit report recommending that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, remit $1.48 billion to the Federation Account.
The APC was of the view that the amount to be remitted by the NNPC is more than the $1.48 billion stated by the PWC in the audit report.
Head, Policy, Research and Strategy Directorate of the APC Presidential Campaign, Mr. Kayode Fayemi, told Bloomberg that the APC has reliable information about the actual amount the NNPC is to refund, adding that the party will release the report immediately it has full information on the issue.
Fayemi, who was also the former governor of Ekiti State, said the incoming administration of Muhammadu Buhari will publish the full audit of the NNPC and compel it to repay the government more than the amount that was previously recommended.
He said, “I have a figure that is more than $1.5 billion that had been talked about. We have seen credible information that what PwC says is more than that. We will release the report. We will make it available to Nigerians as soon as we have full information on this.”
Fayemi further stated that the incoming administration may reorganise the NNPC, saying that, “NNPC will not be in the form or shape it is currently in. Some measure of unbundling will happen.”
Meanwhile, Trafigura Beheer BV, the third-largest crude oil trader, yesterday confirmed that it had stopped doing business in Nigeria due to the controversy that surrounded the product-swap deal with the NNPC.
The reason it stopping doing business in Nigeria, according to Bloomberg was due to criticism from Non-Governmental Organisations, NGO, including the Swiss-based Berne Declaration over swaps deals Trafigura had conducted in Nigeria to exchange refined petroleum products for crude oil because the non-cash deal took place outside regulations for banks providing trade finance.
So-called swap deals, where no money is exchanged, have been criticized by the Berne Declaration and other non-governmental organizations because they take place outside the banking system and the oversight of regulators who supervise lending for commodity trading transactions, Bloomberg stated.
– Vanguard
