20 Specialists To Audit NNPC …EFCC,ICPC Await Report

The Auditor General for the Federation (AGF), Mr Samuel Ukura has said that 20 auditors trained in gas and oil auditing were examining the accounts of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
Ukura said this yesterday, when he appeared before the House of Representatives Committee on Public Accounts in Abuja to defend the 2013 and 2014 budgets.
“We had a budget of N60 million for training and we were able to train 20 officers who are presently on the field auditing the accounts of the NNPC,” he said.
The AGF also said that his office mopped up about N100 million unspent funds for the purchase of vehicles for his office, starting that the contractors, Innoson Motors, failed to supply the vehicles as at December 31, 2013.
He said that the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) had issued his office with a “Letter of No Objection”, directing him to award the said contract for the purchase of vehicles to Innoson Motors.
According to him, since the vehicles were not supplied, no money was paid for them.
The Auditor-General said that his office was only able to buy five Toyota Hilux pick-up vans and one Prado jeep.
He said this was done at the cost of N49.9 million out of the N180 million initially earmarked for the purchase of vehicles.
On the performance of the 2013 budget, Ukura told the committee that the recurrent budget was implemented 100 per cent while the capital budget was implemented only 57.7 per cent, amounting to N374.157 million.
The Chairman of the committee, Rep. Solomon Adeola (APC- Lagos), directed the AGF to submit all payment vouchers and receipts of payments and contracts awarded by his office.
He said the AGF should again appear before the committee on Tuesday, to defend the 2014 budget.
The committee also summoned the Director- General of the BPP, Mr Emeka Eze, to appear before it on Tuesday to shed light on the vehicle purchase.
Meanwhile,the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) yesterday said it was awaiting the report of the ongoing probe of the alleged missing oil funds from the federation account by the Senate before beaming its searchlight on the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, (NNPC).
But the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Matters Commission said it would require the services of financial experts to investigate the NNPC because its accounts were very sophisticated and that the fees of the investigators would be too expensive for it to afford.
The chief executives of both graft agencies, Messrs Ibrahim Lamorde of the EFCC and Professor Olu Aina of the ICPC, gave the explanations while defending their 2014 budget proposal before the Senator Victor Lar-led Senate Committee in charge of the two anti-corruption commissions.

President, ECOWAS Commission, Mr Kadre Desire Ouedraogo (left), with the European Union President, Mr Josemanuel Barroso, at a working breakfast meeting in Abuja, yesterday