Contrary to condemnations that trailed the plan by the Federal Government to engage the services of two yet to be named foreign accounting firms to audit the accounts of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and other revenue generating agencies of government, a financial expert, Mr. Johnson Chukwu has applauded the idea.
Speaking in an interview with Primetime Reporters yesterday in Lagos, Chukwu stated that the fact that the Federal Government appointed two international accounting firms to audit the accounts of the NNPC and other government agencies did no mean that local firms will not have enough mandate within their capacities to execute.
He noted that while Nigeria belonged to a global village, the big firms were all in Nigeria today and that they have Nigerians in the employ adding that the federal government had to look at capacity even as he argued that government should patronize a small firm who did not have the capacity to carry out the mandate it wanted.
“So for me, the people who work in those firms are Nigerians, 99% of those who work in those international firms are Nigerians, they have several Nigerian partners, people who are sharing in the surplus of the firms. So, the fact that they carry foreign names does not mean that you do not have enough domestication in those firms in terms of Nigerian skills and Nigerian personnel.
“But then they also have the size and the competences to carry out complex assignments as is required by the government. So, while I support patronizing Nigerian firms, I also support professionalism, I also support competence, I also support that people who set out to engage firms should get the results that they should get that is appropriate for that assignment.
“So, I don’t think we should start losing hairs that why not appoint Johnson Chukwu and co. when Johnson Chukwu and co. may not be able to execute the mandate”, he said.
On insinuations in some quarters that the foreign companies may be compromised by the multinationals whose activities may be affected in the probe to cover up their tracks for them, Chukwu who is also the Managing Director of Cowry Asset Management Limited had this to say, “I don’t subscribe to this conspiracy theory that Nigerians keep bandying around. There is no where the world came to sit down and say Nigerian should not progress. It is for Nigerians to develop their country.
“In Rwanda, they fought one of the bloodiest civil war, today, Rwanda is one of the shiniest light in Africa. Angola fought one of the bloodiest civil war, today, Angola is thriving. We have seen improvement in Ghana until the recent reversal.
“So, countries are developed by the citizens of that country, by the quality of leadership they have. There is no conspiracy anywhere against Nigeria so that foreigners will go and say let us not do the appropriate job because it is Nigeria. No, that is not true and like I also said, 99% of the personnel in those firms are Nigerians. So, if there is a conspiracy, it is going to be Nigerians against Nigeria. 99% of the people that will be executing that assignment will be Nigerians. So if there is any conspiracy, it is going to be conspiracy of our brothers against ourselves. So let us not bother ourselves with the issues of conspiracy, they want to cover up their facts, no, I don’t see that”, he added.
It will be recalled that a committee of four state Governors set up by the Federal Government and headed by Gov. Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State last week announced that two unnamed foreign firms had been engaged by the Federal Government to audit the account of NNPC, NPA, DPR, NIMASA, NCS amongst others to ascertain their financial standing since January,2010.
However, According to Gov. Oshiomhole, the names of the two foreign firms would be made public by Thursday this week, an action which attracted public condemnation following government’s preference for foreign firms over indigenous accounting firms which they claimed had the capacity to as well carry out that assignment.
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