By Ezra Ijioma
Appearing before the House of Representatives Committee on Public Accounts in Abuja to defend its 2013 and 2014 budgets, the auditor-general for the federation, Mr. Samuel Ukura, said that his office does not have the constitutional powers to audit the accounts of Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) but that he has raised 20 ‘competent’ auditors to audit the accounts of the corporation. NNPC is in the public and legislative dock for claims by the suspended Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor, Lamido Sanusi Lamido, that it has failed to remit $49.8billion, later $10billion but now $20 billion proceeds of crude oil to the federation account.
Ukura was responding to a question on what his office is doing and has done to untie the knotty issue of the ‘unremitted’ funds. Very likely, in a bid to impress the House of Representatives, Ukura had said, “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.”
Section 85 (3) of the 1999 Constitution says: “Nothing in subsection (2) of this section shall be construed as authorising the auditor-general to audit the accounts of or appoint auditors for government statutory corporations, commissions, authorities, agencies, including all persons and bodies established by an Act of the National Assembly.”
NNPC is one of the statutory corporations. However, Section (85) (3) (i) empowers the auditor-general to provide; “a list of auditors qualified to be appointed by them as external auditors and from which the bodies shall appoint their external auditors, and (ii) provide guidelines on the level of fees to be paid to external auditors; and (b) comment on their annual accounts and auditor’s reports thereon. Also, subsection (4) of Section 85 mandates the auditor-general to “conduct checks of all government statutory corporations, commissions, authorities, agencies, including all persons and bodies established by an Act of the National Assembly.”
Obviously, the auditor-general for the federation (AuGF) should have a report of the audited accounts of NNPC and other statutory corporations as submitted to it by the external auditors. It is from this report that the AuGF can tell the nation the correct position of NNPC accounts and untie the knotty issue of ‘unremitted’ funds.
But the AuGF does not have this record because it has not lived up to its constitutional responsibility. The AuGF has neither provided NNPC with a list of qualified auditors nor received a report of the NNPC’s audited accounts by the external auditor. Without the report from the external auditor, the AuGF cannot carry out any periodic checks of NNPC accounts.
Also, it cannot comment on NNPC’s annual account, as required by Section 85 (3) (a) of the 1999 constitution, because it does not have the external auditor’s report. By sending 20 ‘competent’ auditors to audit NNPC’s account, it is clear Ukura does not understand what his responsibilities are. What are his 20 ‘competent’ auditors going to check since they don’t have any report from the external auditor? Any action Ukura would take on NNPC account is dependent on what the report of the external auditor says.
When LEADERSHIP newspapers wrote to AuGF for copies of these audit reports by the external auditor for the past five years, the AuGF hedged and failed to provide it. Also, it failed to provide the external auditor’s report when human rights lawyer Femi Falana requested for it. Ukura disclosed that his office faces “professional and ethical threats” in discharging its constitutional role of “carrying out the vetting and periodic checks of the accounts of government statutory corporations, commissions etc including the NNPC operations”.
This was in January and February this year, how then did those ‘professional and ethical threats’ disappear and that the AuGF can now mobilize 20 ‘competent’ auditors to audit NNPC accounts, which he had claimed he has no constitutional power to do?
Ukura is not the only one observing the Constitution in breach.
The National Assembly, despite its sanctimonious posture, has not lived up to its constitutional responsibility.
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