The minister of Finance Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, on Thursday in Abuja called for independent forensic audit to resolve the puzzle over unremitted funds to the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN.
Okonjo-Iweala made the call at the Senate committee on Finance hearing on the alleged missing $20 billion.
“Our judgment is that a proper examination of these documents requires technical expertise beyond the capacity of the reconciliation team. Therefore, we believe we should have an independent forensic audit to manage these submissions,” she said
Earlier, the chairman of the committee, Ahmed Makarafi, had charged the reconciliation group to carry out the forensic audit and get back to the committee in one month.
He said that the committee would reconvene on February 20 to enable the Attorney General of Federation, Mohammed Adoke, give legal advice on the issue.
The minister of Petroleum, Deizani Alison-Madueke, NNPC group managing director, Andrew Yakubu, and CBN Governor, Lamido Sanusi, were all present at the hearing.