PAGE 4
PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, AUGUST 16, 2013
Page 4 Report NEITI audit report: A twist in the tale T By Etuka Sunday
he recent battle between the management of the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) and that of Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) is one of those episodes Nigerians had witnessed and will continue to witness in the country even against claims that it has been resolved. After a prolong face-off between the two bodies, the truth about the disputed N4.423 billion over-recovery funds has been established as NEITI, on Wednesday 17th August exonerated the PPPRA of being in custody of the funds. A statement, jointly signed by the two organisations clarified that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) was in the custody of the disputed funds and therefore NEITI absolved PPPRA of complicity. According to the report, “after exhaustive and useful deliberations, we resolved as follows; that the sum of N4.423 billion in dispute has been reconciled and traced to the Petroleum Support Fund (PSF) domiciled with the CBN; that there is nothing outstanding against PPPRA on the said amount.” It would be recalled that the fight started almost immediately after the public presentation of the “NEITI Audit Report” of the oil and gas sector covering from 2009 to 2011, in which the PPPRA was indicted of N4.423 billion arising from over-recovery of funds collected from marketers, and therefore was asked to remit it to the Federation Account. However, since the presentation, there has been an intense altercation between the Management of PPPRA and NEITI, over the report that is already in the public domain and fast being studied by Nigerians, especially the civil society groups. Although PPPRA was not the only agency that was indicted, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) was also indicted to the tone of $4.84billion as financial flows from NLNG including dividends and repayment of loans of which was received by NNPC but yet to be remitted to the CBN/ NNPC JP Morgan Account or Federation Account. To state the issue in parts, immediately after the presentation of the report to stakeholders last month (July 29, 2013), PPPRA issued a statement stating unequivocally, that the NEITI Audit Report was “steeped in inaccuracies and gross misrepresentation of facts, hence misleading, with the glaring potential to further cast aspersions on the activities of PPPRA as key administrator of Petroleum Support Fund (PSF). Shortly after that statement, NEITI also issued a statement to maintain its stand on the Audit Report saying, “NEITI stands by its report. All the companies and government agencies covered by the
NEITI Chairman, Mr. Ledum Mitee independent audit including the PPPRA were fully involved and participated actively in the audit process from conception and design of audit templates, through the population of the templates with information and data to the stage of data and information, reconciliation and validation exercise. “Besides, all the companies and agencies including the PPPRA ‘signed off’ on the report before it was published. “The response by PPPRA is therefore strange misplaced and unfortunate. For avoidance of doubt, NEITI audit process is simpler, uniquely different from the usual audit that the Executive Secretary of PPPRA is used to. The audit report is based on information and data primarily, voluntarily but mandatorily provided to NEITI by PPPRA during the audit exercise. “NEITI, under the EITI global principles and standards does not manufacture either information or data. Our audit process is built strongly on factual data, integrity and openness because it is both “covered entities and multistakeholders - driven”. Therefore the credibility of our report remains solid and one that can be taken to the bank”. In a swift reaction, in what appeared to be dramatic, PPPRA again responded immediately, advising NEITI to desist from confusing the public on the issue. The Executive Secretary of the PPPRA, Mr. Reginald Stanley, told reporters in Abuja that NEITI
“
appeared to have embarked on a wild-goose chase, instead of addressing the issues at stake. “We challenge NEITI to tell Nigerians where the N4.423 billion it claims was warehoused. If NEITI is indeed, desirous of efficiently doing its job, we challenge it to go and consult the records at the Central Bank of Nigeria, where the PSF account is domiciled. “It should also go a step further by visiting the records at the Federal Ministry of
Finance to confirm if certain amount of money, as claimed, was remitted accordingly or not by the PPPRA. “To all intents and purposes, it is apparent that NEITI is on a wild-goose chase and self-seeking in its putrid claims. Stanley also faulted NEITI’s latest claim that ``all the companies and government agencies covered by the audit, including the PPPRA were fully involved and participated
actively in the audit process’’. He said there was never a time the audit report was `signed off’ by the PPPRA management, challenging NEITI to make a copy of the ‘sign-off’ public to prove its claim. He said that the PPPRA as a responsible government agency, committed to accountability and probity was always ready to subject itself to any enquiry, designed to promote public good and full realisation of the transformation agenda of the Federal Government. “We hereby appeal to NEITI to desist from further confusing the general public. Instead, it should revisit and reconcile available figures from both the PSF and Federation Accounts. Provoked by PPPRA’s indignant statement and position, NEITI called a press conference at the weekend and presented the acknowledgement letter endorsed by PPPRA to showed that it was informed of its N4.423bn debt to the federation, arising from over-recovery collected from independent oil marketers between 2008 and 2009. The NEITI’s Director of Communications, Dr. Orji Ogbonnaya Orji, while showing the journalists the letter, dated June 28, 2013 sent to his organisation by the PPPRA, stressed that, “When the draft report was finally ready, it was made available to all agencies for their vetting, and more inputs where necessary. “I wish to state that the PPPRA received the draft
report, reviewed it, and participated in the final reconciliatory meeting. “After that meeting from where all other agencies and companies signed-off, the PPPRA still came up with additional information on the 28th of June; clearly two days before the final deadline, in which the PPPRA specifically requested NEITI to consider same as ‘superseding all earlier correspondences on the issues.’ In the EITI/ NEITI process that was ‘a sign-off.” However, the question yet unanswered is: If the money has been deposited in the CBN, as they would want us to believe, why was it not reflected in the NEITI report? If the both organizations were aware of such account, then why was there a misunderstanding or long battle to show where the money was kept? Stakeholders opine that if not checked, this kind of war is capable of undermining the effort of government in ensuring transparency and accountability in all its dealings because one of the reasons of figure usage is to provide clarity of presentation or accuracy of reportage. However, now that their differences had been resolved, it would be better if the resolution passed at the meeting is strictly adhered to. The meeting suggested an alternative means of addressing other issues arising from the NEITI Report, using the platform of Inter-Ministerial Task Team (IMTT) set up by Mr.
Executive Secretary of PPPRA, Reginald Stanley
However, the question yet unanswered is: If the money has been deposited in the CBN, as they would want us to believe, why was it not reflected in the NEITI report? If the both organizations were aware of such account, then why was there a misunderstanding or long battle to show where the money was kept?
President to address remedial issues arising from NEITI’s Report. The meeting also stressed the need for effective communication network between the two agencies for effective inter-agency cooperation in the pursuit of their mandates.