Nigeria’s state oil firm needs complete overhaul, audit says

A government-ordered audit into Nigeria’s powerful state oil company found that it needs to be completely and urgently overhauled, after corruption scandals and suspect spending have tarnished its reputation.

Outgoing president Goodluck Jonathan’s administration hired PriceWaterhouseCooper to audit the Nigeria National Petroleum Company (NNPC) in 2014, after the firm was accused of misappropriating roughly $20 billion (18.3 billion euros) in public funds through 2012 and 2013.

The accusation came from then central bank governor Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, who was sacked after he made the charge publicly.

The PwC audit did not entirely support the allegations levelled by Sanusi, who has since become the Emir of Kano, Nigeria’s second most powerful Islamic cleric.

The audit found that NNPC only paid $50.81 billion into the federation account out of the $69.34 billion it received from crude sales in 2012 and 2013.

It said the outstanding balance of $18.53 billion was spent on various operational costs, many of which were frivolous and wasteful.

“We therefore recommend that the NNPC model of operation must be urgently reviewed and restructured, as the current model which has been in operation since the creation of the corporation cannot be sustained,” PwC said in its 199-page report.

Perhaps the most crucial finding is that NNPC carried out this operational spending without proper approval.

The firm was supposed to have collected the money from crude sales and deposited it in the federal government account. The decision to re-allocate the funds for operations then technically rests with the federal government.

NNPC’s many critics have argued that so-called operational spending lies at the heart of the firm’s corrupt practices.

Contracts for procurement or infrastructure improvement are awarded to powerful cronies, money is paid but the service is either not provided or carried out shoddily by local firms with weak credentials, critics and previous independent reports have said.

Jonathan will leave office on May 29 after losing last monh’s presidential elections to Muhammadu Buhari, the first time an incumbent has been voted out by the opposition in Nigeria’s history.

Many analysts said Jonathan’s failure to stem corruption played a huge role in his election defeat.

Resentment over graft in Nigeria, Africa’s top oil producer, is most heavily focused on the energy sector, with few in the nation of 173 million benefiting from its vast resource wealth.

In the run-up to the elections, Jonathan’s government released a portion of the audit, a move likely aimed at dismissing Sanusi’s claims concerning a $20 billion theft.

The segment of the audit previously released said an NNPC subsidiary, the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company, only owed the government account $1.48 billion.

The $18.53 billion figure concerning questionable spending was not disclosed before the vote.

Buhari pledged to release the full audit after taking office, but Jonathan apparently decided to pre-empt the move.