The Federal Government of Nigeria is set to hire an external auditor to verify the N2.7 trillion fuel subsidy claim by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC).
This decision follows an initial audit by KPMG that reduced the NNPC’s claimed subsidy from N6 trillion to N2.7 trillion.
The audit will cover the period from 2015 to 2021.
Despite the NNPC’s insistence that the government owes them N2.8 trillion for subsidies, the audit has yet to begin, even though plans were proposed five months ago.
The Ministry of Finance has started the process of selecting an external auditor to assist the Office of the Auditor-General in determining the exact amount owed.
Officials at the recent Federation Allocation Accounts Committee meeting discussed extending the audit period to December 2023 or limiting it to June 2022, when the NNPC was still a corporation.
The Minister of Finance expressed hope that the audit will be conducted swiftly.