News: $1.48 billion missing from Nigerian oil revenues: Auditors

At least $1.48 billion is missing from Nigeria's oil revenues, according to an international audit that found much less unaccounted for than the $20 billion alleged by the former Central Bank governor.

The report by PricewaterhouseCoopers covering January 2012 to July 2013 is an indictment of the accounting of the state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corp., which it said needs to be urgently restructured.

It said the corporation should pay at least $1.48 billion into the federal account.
President Goodluck Jonathan received the report on Monday and promised to publish key findings. An opposition coalition contesting a close presidential election Feb. 14 is demanding the entire report. Key findings collated by the federal auditor general were made available Thursday to The Associated Press.
The auditors also questioned $3.38 billion in alleged subsidies for kerosene charged by the petroleum corporation although a presidential directive ended the subsidy in 2009. Millions of Nigerians use kerosene for cooking. Few pay the subsidized price for which the petroleum corporation bills Nigeria's treasury. A Central Bank report said it was a scam — that private business people favored by the corporation reap benefits amounting to $100 million a month from the supposed subsidy.