The Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation (AGF)
yesterday submitted a damning 2014 audit report of all ministries,
departments and agencies (MDAs) to the leadership of the National
Assembly.
The submitted audit report also captures embassies and foreign missions.
The AGF, Mr Samuel Ukura, who presented a copy of the report to the clerk to the National Assembly, Alhaji Salisu Maikaswa, for both chambers, gave highlights of how monies were diverted or spent by MDAs during the period under review.
According to the AGF, the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) did not remit N3,234577,666,791.35 to the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) in January 2014.
The report states that the sale of gas to Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) to the tune of $235,685,861 was not paid to the federation account; rather, it was transferred to some undisclosed Escrow accounts.
“Relevant documents were not made available for verification,” AGF noted in the report.
The report also indicates that the acquisition and payment of N3,630,000,000 property was made without a Certificate of Occupancy (C of O).
According to the report, a total payment, amounting to N73,547,759,436, was made contrary to established purpose of the funds.
Other revelations of the audit report include: “The sum of N36,432,423,968.73 was released to the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) for the rehabilitation and construction of dams instead of the Federal Ministry of Water Resources.
“The sum of N2,894,531250.00 was spent for the procurement of hand sanitisers for schools and critical public places.
“The sum of N31,324,952,239.87 was payment of subsidy on fertilizer and youth employment in agricultural programmes.
“The sum of N2,395,851,978.00 was payment for Group Life Assurance Premium for Armed Forces budget in 2013, but not backed. The sum of N500,000,000 was made as payment for agricultural programmes.
“These were variances with the purpose of the fund. No evidence of these lines of expenditure in the 2014 Appropriation Act,” the AGF revealed in the report.
Ironically
also, the management of the National Assembly, headed by the Clerk,
made payments of N9,514,568,222.62 without raising payment vouchers,
which, according to the AGF, violated the nation’s financial rules.
In the same period under review, personal advances were granted to 112 staff of the National Assembly from recurrent votes and 50 members of staff from general service votes from July to December, 2014, for various purposes, all amounting to N1.162,009,305.00.
In the audit report, the AGF revealed how the Embassy of Nigeria in Washington DC, United States of America, realized Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of $3,705,428 between 2012 and March 2015, but expended the whole amount on sundry expenses.
The audit report also indicted the leadership of the Nigerian Prisons Service. The AGF, in the report, said the Pay As You Earn (PAYE) tax of N2,036,758,176.75 was deducted and was said to be remitted to Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), but there is no evidence of remittance and nothing was produced for audit confirmation.
At the time of filing in this report, our correspondent could not ascertain when the Clerk to the National Assembly woul forward the report to the leadership of both chambers for further consideration.
OPEC Oil Exports Fall To 24m bpd In February
Crude oil exports by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) fell marginally in February by 30,000 barrel per day (bpd) to 24 million bpd.
Thomas Reuters’ OPEC Oil Research and Forecasts report for February 2016 indicate that, generally, exports fell by 280,000 during the period.
This is as oil price fell yesterday after Iran dashed hopes of a coordinated production freeze any time soon, returning bearish sentiment to the market over a supply glut that has sent prices crashing.
Global benchmark Brent crude futures fell back below $40 a barrel, trading at $39.70 at 1128 GMT, down 69 cents or 1.7 per cent on Friday’s close. Brent hit a 12-year low of $27.10 in January.
U.S. crude was down 82 cents at $37.68 a barrel.
“Oil is down because Iran said they would only join the output freeze group once they reached production of four million barrels a day (bpd),” said Tamas Varga, oil analyst at London brokerage, PVM Oil Associates.
Exports remain at multi-year highs as the market share battle wages on. Sales increased from Venezuela, Nigeria, Angola, Algeria, Ecuador and Qatar, with the African producers adding 340,000 bpd month-on-month (m-o-m), while Latin American members exported 280,000 bpd more m-o-m with Venezuela accounting for 69 per cent of the increase.
Nadim Najjar, managing director, MENA, Thomson Reuters, said, “Our bottom up analysis shows that the largest Asian buyers (China, India, Japan and South Korea) in the month of February shifted their attention back to Saudi Arabian crude oil, importing less from other OPEC members.
“China in particular was the only country that reduced its share of Saudi crude from 34 per cent in January to 30 per cent in February as emphasis was given to Iraqi crude and crude from other non-Middle East members like Venezuela and non-OPEC crudes such as Russian ESPO.” China has now pledged to get more of its exports from Nigeria.
“February exports have increased 1.12 million bpd year-on-year (y-o-y) as Iran increases oil exports following the sanction lift, while other core Middle Eastern producers have pushed output to multi-year highs leaving a very thin spare capacity. Yearly export growth for January stood at 950,000 bpd. We expect OPEC exports to remain strong as refinery maintenance wraps up and road fuel demand increases for the summer driving season.”
“OPEC exports to Africa increased by 46 per cent to 0.69 million bpd, while exports to Asian buyers fell by 14.3 per cent to 15.43 million bpd. European imports from the organisation fell by 21.4 per cent to 2.2 million bpd and exports to the Americas slowed by 5.85 per cent, to 3.59 million bpd as demand from refineries declines due to ongoing maintenance.
“Our oil flows tracking indicates that there is 63.35 million bbls with unknown destination, likely still on route for their final destination, with the largest part expected to reach Asian countries in the following days”, said Thomas Reuters.
Saudi exports softened in February in line with lower crude output. The Kingdom exported 7.8 million bpd, 60,000 bpd lower compared to 7.86 million bpd in January. Flows to Africa and Europe surged by 96 per cent and 159 per cent respectively to 0.24 million bpd and 0.18 million bpd. Exports towards the Americas declined by 31 per cent to 0.85 million bpd, while Asian buying remained very strong at 5.40 million bpd.
Iraq exported 3.35 million bpd in February, down by 132,000 bpd compared to January as the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline remains offline due to sabotage, with repair work still ongoing. Basrah loadings during February rose by 42,000 bpd compared to January.
Meanwhile, Iranian exports slowed significantly in February as Asian buyers reduced their intake. The Islamic Republic exported 1.41 million bpd in February, 300,000 lower compared to January’s multi-year high of 1.71 million bpd. Iran has not priced its crude aggressively for Asian buyers, as it did for European customers, allowing Saudi Arabia to maintain its market share dominance.
Export volumes are calculated by the Thomson Reuters Research & Forecast team using a bottom-up methodology that leverages data from the Trade Flows module available on Eikon.
Iran’s oil exports are due to reach 2 million bpd in the Iranian month that ends on March 19, up from 1.75 million in the previous month, oil minister Bijan Zanganeh said on Sunday.
Zanganeh poured cold water on hopes for a quick deal on freezing production, saying the OPEC member would join discussions only once its own output reached four million bpd.
Saudi Arabia appeared to have stuck to a preliminary deal with some other producers to freeze output, as its crude production held steady in February at 10.22 million bpd, an industry source told Reuters.
OPEC members and non-OPEC producers are likely to hold their next meeting to discuss an output freeze in mid-April in Doha, OPEC sources told Reuters.
A March 20 meeting in Russia, which was part of an earlier plan, now looks unlikely.
Worries about demand fundamentals moved back into the spotlight as investment bank, Morgan Stanley, warned that a slowing global economy and high production would prevent any sharp rises in oil prices.
“Oil prices now seem to have bottomed, even though they are likely to stay subdued for the rest of this year before starting to move higher in 2017,” the U.S. bank said in a research note. It added that cheap oil had not provided the boost to growth that many had hoped for.
“When oil prices are falling below production costs, the income gains for consumers will be smaller than the costs to producers, and falling oil prices become a negative-sum game,” it said
Culled from Leadership
The submitted audit report also captures embassies and foreign missions.
The AGF, Mr Samuel Ukura, who presented a copy of the report to the clerk to the National Assembly, Alhaji Salisu Maikaswa, for both chambers, gave highlights of how monies were diverted or spent by MDAs during the period under review.
According to the AGF, the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) did not remit N3,234577,666,791.35 to the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) in January 2014.
The report states that the sale of gas to Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) to the tune of $235,685,861 was not paid to the federation account; rather, it was transferred to some undisclosed Escrow accounts.
“Relevant documents were not made available for verification,” AGF noted in the report.
The report also indicates that the acquisition and payment of N3,630,000,000 property was made without a Certificate of Occupancy (C of O).
According to the report, a total payment, amounting to N73,547,759,436, was made contrary to established purpose of the funds.
Other revelations of the audit report include: “The sum of N36,432,423,968.73 was released to the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) for the rehabilitation and construction of dams instead of the Federal Ministry of Water Resources.
“The sum of N2,894,531250.00 was spent for the procurement of hand sanitisers for schools and critical public places.
“The sum of N31,324,952,239.87 was payment of subsidy on fertilizer and youth employment in agricultural programmes.
“The sum of N2,395,851,978.00 was payment for Group Life Assurance Premium for Armed Forces budget in 2013, but not backed. The sum of N500,000,000 was made as payment for agricultural programmes.
“These were variances with the purpose of the fund. No evidence of these lines of expenditure in the 2014 Appropriation Act,” the AGF revealed in the report.
Ironically
also, the management of the National Assembly, headed by the Clerk,
made payments of N9,514,568,222.62 without raising payment vouchers,
which, according to the AGF, violated the nation’s financial rules.In the same period under review, personal advances were granted to 112 staff of the National Assembly from recurrent votes and 50 members of staff from general service votes from July to December, 2014, for various purposes, all amounting to N1.162,009,305.00.
In the audit report, the AGF revealed how the Embassy of Nigeria in Washington DC, United States of America, realized Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of $3,705,428 between 2012 and March 2015, but expended the whole amount on sundry expenses.
The audit report also indicted the leadership of the Nigerian Prisons Service. The AGF, in the report, said the Pay As You Earn (PAYE) tax of N2,036,758,176.75 was deducted and was said to be remitted to Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), but there is no evidence of remittance and nothing was produced for audit confirmation.
At the time of filing in this report, our correspondent could not ascertain when the Clerk to the National Assembly woul forward the report to the leadership of both chambers for further consideration.
OPEC Oil Exports Fall To 24m bpd In February
Crude oil exports by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) fell marginally in February by 30,000 barrel per day (bpd) to 24 million bpd.
Thomas Reuters’ OPEC Oil Research and Forecasts report for February 2016 indicate that, generally, exports fell by 280,000 during the period.
This is as oil price fell yesterday after Iran dashed hopes of a coordinated production freeze any time soon, returning bearish sentiment to the market over a supply glut that has sent prices crashing.
Global benchmark Brent crude futures fell back below $40 a barrel, trading at $39.70 at 1128 GMT, down 69 cents or 1.7 per cent on Friday’s close. Brent hit a 12-year low of $27.10 in January.
U.S. crude was down 82 cents at $37.68 a barrel.
“Oil is down because Iran said they would only join the output freeze group once they reached production of four million barrels a day (bpd),” said Tamas Varga, oil analyst at London brokerage, PVM Oil Associates.
Exports remain at multi-year highs as the market share battle wages on. Sales increased from Venezuela, Nigeria, Angola, Algeria, Ecuador and Qatar, with the African producers adding 340,000 bpd month-on-month (m-o-m), while Latin American members exported 280,000 bpd more m-o-m with Venezuela accounting for 69 per cent of the increase.
Nadim Najjar, managing director, MENA, Thomson Reuters, said, “Our bottom up analysis shows that the largest Asian buyers (China, India, Japan and South Korea) in the month of February shifted their attention back to Saudi Arabian crude oil, importing less from other OPEC members.
“China in particular was the only country that reduced its share of Saudi crude from 34 per cent in January to 30 per cent in February as emphasis was given to Iraqi crude and crude from other non-Middle East members like Venezuela and non-OPEC crudes such as Russian ESPO.” China has now pledged to get more of its exports from Nigeria.
“February exports have increased 1.12 million bpd year-on-year (y-o-y) as Iran increases oil exports following the sanction lift, while other core Middle Eastern producers have pushed output to multi-year highs leaving a very thin spare capacity. Yearly export growth for January stood at 950,000 bpd. We expect OPEC exports to remain strong as refinery maintenance wraps up and road fuel demand increases for the summer driving season.”
“OPEC exports to Africa increased by 46 per cent to 0.69 million bpd, while exports to Asian buyers fell by 14.3 per cent to 15.43 million bpd. European imports from the organisation fell by 21.4 per cent to 2.2 million bpd and exports to the Americas slowed by 5.85 per cent, to 3.59 million bpd as demand from refineries declines due to ongoing maintenance.
“Our oil flows tracking indicates that there is 63.35 million bbls with unknown destination, likely still on route for their final destination, with the largest part expected to reach Asian countries in the following days”, said Thomas Reuters.
Saudi exports softened in February in line with lower crude output. The Kingdom exported 7.8 million bpd, 60,000 bpd lower compared to 7.86 million bpd in January. Flows to Africa and Europe surged by 96 per cent and 159 per cent respectively to 0.24 million bpd and 0.18 million bpd. Exports towards the Americas declined by 31 per cent to 0.85 million bpd, while Asian buying remained very strong at 5.40 million bpd.
Iraq exported 3.35 million bpd in February, down by 132,000 bpd compared to January as the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline remains offline due to sabotage, with repair work still ongoing. Basrah loadings during February rose by 42,000 bpd compared to January.
Meanwhile, Iranian exports slowed significantly in February as Asian buyers reduced their intake. The Islamic Republic exported 1.41 million bpd in February, 300,000 lower compared to January’s multi-year high of 1.71 million bpd. Iran has not priced its crude aggressively for Asian buyers, as it did for European customers, allowing Saudi Arabia to maintain its market share dominance.
Export volumes are calculated by the Thomson Reuters Research & Forecast team using a bottom-up methodology that leverages data from the Trade Flows module available on Eikon.
Iran’s oil exports are due to reach 2 million bpd in the Iranian month that ends on March 19, up from 1.75 million in the previous month, oil minister Bijan Zanganeh said on Sunday.
Zanganeh poured cold water on hopes for a quick deal on freezing production, saying the OPEC member would join discussions only once its own output reached four million bpd.
Saudi Arabia appeared to have stuck to a preliminary deal with some other producers to freeze output, as its crude production held steady in February at 10.22 million bpd, an industry source told Reuters.
OPEC members and non-OPEC producers are likely to hold their next meeting to discuss an output freeze in mid-April in Doha, OPEC sources told Reuters.
A March 20 meeting in Russia, which was part of an earlier plan, now looks unlikely.
Worries about demand fundamentals moved back into the spotlight as investment bank, Morgan Stanley, warned that a slowing global economy and high production would prevent any sharp rises in oil prices.
“Oil prices now seem to have bottomed, even though they are likely to stay subdued for the rest of this year before starting to move higher in 2017,” the U.S. bank said in a research note. It added that cheap oil had not provided the boost to growth that many had hoped for.
“When oil prices are falling below production costs, the income gains for consumers will be smaller than the costs to producers, and falling oil prices become a negative-sum game,” it said
Culled from Leadership
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