The Federal Government on Saturday night terminated
the services of accounting and auditing firms that were responsible for
certifying the documents and claims of marketers before payment.
The companies are Akintola Williams and Company and Adekanola and Company.
The move, according to a statement issued by the
Ministry of Finance, became imperative following concerns raised about
the management of the subsidy regime.
The statement said the ministry had within the last
two months been reviewing aspects of the implementation of the subsidy
regime related to its functions.
The review, it noted, had produced a lot of useful
details on what went wrong with the system and what needed to be done to
ensure improvement.
It said the review process kicked off in February
when the ministry and relevant government agencies held a meeting with
bankers and marketers at the instance of President Goodluck Jonathan.
This, it said, was followed by a subsequent session with the accounting and auditing firms to re-evaluate their work.
Based on the review, the statement signed by the
Senior Special Assistant to the Minister of Finance, Mr. Paul Nwabuikwu,
said, “The services of the audit and accounting firms responsible for
certifying the documents and claims of marketers before payment have
been terminated.
“The companies are Akintola Williams and Company and Adekanola and Company.”
The Ministry also established a committee made up of
persons from the private and public sector with strong technical
component under the chairmanship of Mr. Aigboje Imoukuede to examine the
claims of payment arrears for 2011 currently being made by marketers.
This, it noted, would help ensure that only genuine claims were honoured.
It said, “The ministry is also finalising a new and
more effective system to replace the current arrangement and, in this
regard, a second committee has been set up to propose a good way
forward.
“Based on other outcomes of the review, the ministry will take further actions as necessary.”
The statement further disclosed that the Federation
Accounts Allocation Committee had put on hold further depletion of the
Excess Crude Account.
While the statement did not state the reason for the
sacking, the probe panel had alleged that the N5.27 billion
“over-recovery” for 2009, which was established by the NNPC and PPPRA’s
official external auditors, Akintola Williams, had no evidence that the
fund was remitted to the Petroleum Subsidy Fund Account.
The report explained that one of the sources of
revenue for the PSF Account was “over-recovery,” which was the money
accruable to the PSF Account whenever the product landing cost was lower
than the Ex-Depot price.
The panel however observed that there was an
over-recovery of N2.766 billion in 2009, different from the N5.27
billion claimed by the auditing firm, adding, “This was expected to have
been credited to the PSF Account but was not traceable to the official
PSF Account disclosed.”
The report said, “In the presentation made by
Akintola Williams, it was claimed that the sum of NGN5.27 billion was
established as over-recovery in 2009, however, there was no evidence
that this money was credited to the PSF Account.”
There were speculations that the sacking might have been based on the recommendation of the panel.
In its recommendation, it said, “Marketers that had
short-changed Nigerians were identified and recommended to make refunds
within a time-frame of three months; civil servants were to be
sanctioned in accordance with the civil service rules as well as under
extant laws.
It added, “Management staff and top government
officials, based on the gravity of their offences, are to be
reprimanded, re-deployed, dismissed and, in specific cases, prosecuted
for abuse of office and fraudulent practices.”
The report said, but for the disobedience and failure
to enforce the stipulated guidelines, the subsidy scheme could have
succeeded, adding that the level of corruption could have been minimal,
if the staff of various agencies, both government and private, had not
compromised and colluded with some oil marketers.
