THE Financial Reporting Council (FRC) said financial documents of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), and other government agencies and private corporations like banks have shown financial wrongdoings.
FRC Executive Secretary Shuaibu Ahmed revealed this during a press interview on Tuesday.
In compliance with its established Act, Ahmed said the Council is currently reviewing financial statements across selected government’s ministries, departments and agencies (MDA) across the country.
He said the Council had already queried and written the NNPC and other agencies with financial wrongdoings to furnish it with the details of their records.
He noted that individuals, especially the NNPC, and affected agencies would be invited to make clarifications in the weeks ahead.
He also stated that the FRC has undertaken the review of financial statements of banks, pension fund administration and their custodians over the last couple of weeks and it’s ready to invite them for inspection meetings with their auditors.
He said it was the only way to enhance the quality of financial reporting and make entities and individuals compliant with the Act.
There is no governmental institution that insulated against mismanagement in Nigeria.
But more worrisome is the NNPC that has always been a subject of administrative and financial controversies over the years.
A recent report by The ICIR shows that the managers of the Port Harcourt Refinery Company (PHRC) do not have the discipline to make good financial decisions, as shown by the 2020 financial statement of the company.
The local refinery, managed by Ahmed Dikko, an engineer, reported no income in 2020 but incurred administrative expenses of N19.215 billion, paying salaries, wages and other benefits to unproductive workers to the tune of N22.55 billion.
Worse still, the refinery, one of the subsidiaries of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) managed by Mele Kyari, employed 487 new staff members in 2020.
To show the high level of financial recklessness going on at the mismanaged refinery, the 487 new workers are being paid N3.93 billion annually, indicating that each of them takes an average of N8.072 million annually or N672,713 monthly.
The amount they earn monthly is about the annual salary of a normal Level 8 Federal Government worker.
Between 2019 and 2020, the refinery employed 1,162 new staff, paying N41.163 billion in salary and wages, according to The ICIR’s calculations of the company’s wage data on its financial statements.
Out of the 487 staff members employed in 2020, 430 were senior and management staff, amounting to 88.2 per cent, with huge financial implications. Only 57 were junior staff members.
Also, out of 675 staff engaged by the refinery in 2019, 656 were management and senior staff, representing 97 per cent of the total, with huge financial implications.
Yet, staff pension, gratuity and ‘long service award’ gulped N77.76 billion in 2020 as against N63.41 billion the previous year.
Surprisingly, under Dikko and his boss Kyari, the PHRC’s unproductive staff were allowed to take car loans, compassionate loans and advances valued at N1.001 billion in 2020.
The amount hit N597.297 million in 2019.
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