The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) will equip 50 per cent of its workforce with requisite knowledge in identifying and examining fraud to combat corruption, Dr Maikanti Baru has said.

Baru, the Group Managing Director of NNPC, made the assertion on Tuesday in Abuja while receiving a delegation of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (CFE), Abuja Chapter, led by its President, Mr Ishili Emmanuel.

According to a statement signed by Mr Ndu Ughamadu, the Group General Manager, Public Affairs Division, Baru said that it was part of the measures to eradicate corruption in NNPC.

Baru said that the training of members of staff on fraud examination would ensure that NNPC was not involved in the five per cent annual global revenue loss to fraud.

“We will use the opportunity offered by the CFE to train at least 50 per cent of our workers on fraud examination.

“We do know that there are a lot of advantages in getting as many staff as possible trained in fraud examination,” he said.

Baru explained that as the major foreign exchange earner for the country, NNPC was conscious of corruption in all its ramifications and had gone beyond looking at corruption in terms of money alone.

“NNPC, under my leadership, has instituted what we call Governance, Risk and Compliance Division, which is very much in line with the mission of CFE.

“The division is not only looking at corruption in terms of naira and kobo, but also at the system itself.

“The new division will ensure that fraud does not manifest in our system, and if it does, it will be quickly nipped in the bud,” he said.

Baru described corruption as a major waster of human resources, saying that any worker found culpable would be prosecuted and sacked.

The NNPC group managing director said that it was better to train them on fraud and safeguard them.

He said that the corporation was at the vanguard of providing support to anti-corruption agencies in the country by providing them with necessary information on cases involving its employees and other relevant third parties.

“We have been using the anti-corruption bodies effectively, particularly, we have very strong collaboration with the ICPC,” he said.

According to him, during my stint as the chairman of the NNPC Anti-corruption Committee, we saw the need to train and certify fraud examiners.

Earlier, the CFE President said that NNPC, as the apex oil and gas company in Nigeria, ought to have a robust human asset capability to deal with unique socio-economic development challenges within the industry.

He lauded Baru for his tenacity and commitment to fight corruption since assuming duty as the helmsman of the corporation.

Emmanuel said that by joining the CFE as a corporate member, the NNPC stood to benefit from the pool of unlimited anti-fraud resources like other World-class organisations around the world.

He explained that membership of the anti-corruption body would make a bold statement about the corporation’s integrity, capacity and willingness to entrench the culture of transparency and anti-corruption in its system.

The CFE president, however, conferred fellow of the association on Baru. (NAN)

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