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Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala
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Ngozi
Okonjo-Iweala, the minister of finance and coordinating minister of the economy,
says she has not “disowned” audit firm PricewaterhouseCoopers as has been
claimed in some media reports.
According to Okonjo-Iweala, her
recent statement denying the allegation
that she appointed the firm to audit the accounts of the Nigerian
National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), does not amount to disowning the firm.
TheCable reports:
“Contrary to reports by Premium
Times and some other media, the Coordinating Minister for the Economy and
Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has not disowned
PricewaterhouseCoopers, the international audit firm which carried out the
recent audit of the alleged unaccounted for US$20 billion,” Paul C
Nwabuikwu, her special adviser, said a statement.
“This is because the forensic audit
was actually proposed by Dr Okonjo-Iweala as the best way to get to the truth
following the disagreement (and widely conflicting figures) between former CBN
Governor (and current Emir of Kano) Malam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi and the NNPC
over Sanusi’s allegation of unaccounted for funds.
“Her proposal was accepted by
President Goodluck Jonathan as well as the Senate, and the President
subsequently directed the Auditor General of the Federation to lead the work.
The Auditor-General later appointed PwC to carry out the audit.
Nwabuikwu said the
minister “respects the process which produced the audit” but added
that “requesting the audit is of course not the same thing as hiring the
auditor”.
“This was why we made it clear in
our last press release that the suit filed against Dr Okonjo-Iweala before a
Lagos High Court by SIAO Partners alleging that she appointed PwC to carry out
the audit is frivolous and uninformed.
“We urge the relevant media to update their
information based on this clarification.”
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