A forensic audit conducted by KPMG, a global accounting firm, has uncovered a N3.3 trillion discrepancy in the fuel subsidy claims made by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) during the administration of former president Muhammadu Buhari.
The audit found that NNPCL had initially reported N6 trillion in subsidy claims, with the government paying a substantial portion of this amount.
However, NNPCL’s Group CEO, Mele Kyari, asserted that the company is still owed N2.8 trillion by the federal government.
Kyari stated, “Since the provision of the N6tn in 2022, and N3.7tn in 2023, we have not received any payment whatsoever from the Federation.
“That means they (the Federal Government) are unable to pay and we’ve continued to support this subsidy from the cash flow of the NNPC. We are waiting for them to settle up to N2.8tn of NNPC’s cash flow from the subsidy regime and we can’t continue to build this,” he added.
Kyari made this statement shortly after Chief Bola Ahmed Tinubu announced the removal of the fuel subsidy.
Following the findings of KPMG’s audit, which reconciled the claims down to N2.7 trillion, the Nigerian Government has decided to conduct a fresh audit of the N2.8 trillion fuel subsidy claim.
This audit will be led by the Office of the Auditor-General for the Federation (OAuGF) and aims to verify the authenticity of NNPC’s claims for the period from 2015 to 2021. The OAuGF may engage an external firm for additional support in this process.
This decision was reached during a Federal Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) meeting in March 2024, where members emphasized the need for an independent audit to avoid conflicts of interest.
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