NNPC Insists FG never paid subsidy since 2007, writes off ‘missing’ $10.8b revenue

Date:

GMD-NNPC-Dr.-Andrew-Yakubu-m-flanked-by-Shell-Country-Chair-Muitu-Sunm-27b6d_medium_640The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) at the weekend wrote off the ‘missing’ $10.8 billion oil revenues, claiming the funds were part of the backlog of subsidy debts, which the Federal Government owes it since 2007.

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The funds are part of the controversial $49.8 billion oil revenues, which Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Sanusi Lamido, alleged that the NNPC was withholding.

Although a panel set up to reconcile the account of the CBN and NNPC absolved the corporation of complicity in the sum of $30.0 billion revenues, it submitted that $10.8 billion from the total amount was yet to be accounted for.

But the NNPC at the weekend declared that the “yet to be reconciled $10.8 billion can be located in the expenses on some of the responsibilities which the Corporation carries out on behalf of the Federal Government with respect to the domestic crude oil utilisation”.

Specifically, the NNPC in a statement by its spokesperson, Omar Farouk, listed one of such issues as the unpaid subsidies on kerosene and premium motor spirit (PMS), while others are expenditure on pipeline surveillance and maintenance of national strategic reserves for petroleum products.

At some point, the corporation had insisted in its statement that “no money is missing”.

“It would be recalled that Dr. (Ngozi) Okonjo-Iweala was earlier in 2013 reported to have stated that she has not paid any subsidy on kerosene since she assumed office.

“The truth of the matter is that since 2007, when the late former President Umaru Yar’Adua reviewed the prices of petroleum products following the general strike in protest against the price hike by his predecessor, the issue of subsidy payment on kerosene was left hanging, and NNPC was mandated to continue to sell the product at a subsidised rate of N50 per litre.

“Since then, not a dime has been paid to the Corporation as subsidy on the product. It is also on record that since January 2012, NNPC has been importing the bulk of the PMS used in the country.

“NNPC has successfully kept the nation wet with products, especially PMS, these past two years as can be verified from the absence of queues at petrol stations during the end of year festivities.

“So the Corporation is left to bear these responsibilities on behalf of the Federal Government and these costs are part of the yet-to-be-reconciled balance,” the NNPC said.

The issues surrounding the allegation of unremitted $49.8 billion against the state owned NNPC, the corporation added, have since been explained, even while noting that the initial dust raised in the process is yet to settle.

“We are therefore constrained to respond and clarify the issues once again to help those who do not yet understand the clarification made earlier by the Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala; Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke; Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi; and Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Engr. Andrew Yakubu, at a joint press conference which was widely reported in the media,” it said.

According to Farouk, there was nowhere it was stated or admitted by any of the parties in the course of the press conference or anywhere else that the sum of $12 billion or $10.8 billion out of the alleged unremitted $49.8 billion is “missing’.’

The NNPC spokesperson said further that another “area of huge expenditure on behalf of the Federal Government is the maintenance of national strategic reserves for petroleum products”.

“At every point in time round the year, NNPC maintains huge petroleum products reserves in the national territorial waters as a result of pipeline vandalism which has made access to most of the inland storage facilities impossible.

“Though all hope is not lost in this regard as the Corporation has since launched an aggressive depot rehabilitation and pipeline recovery exercise with amazing results so far.

“However, for the purpose of strategic reserve, at the rate of 40 million litres of PMS national consumption per day, NNPC maintains about 32 days’ sufficiency of petrol. The cost incurred in this mandate is also part of the $10.8b yet-to-be-reconciled outstanding figure.

“A third component is the cost of pipeline vandalism and oil theft. These are security issues.

“While we acknowledge that successive governments and their agencies like the military, police, NSCDC etc have been trying hard to create an enabling environment for the protection of our key infrastructure, including pipelines jetties, depots etc, the sheer volume of vandalism and theft is just enormous.

“Our over 5000 kilometres of pipelines have been prone to incessant attacks. The cost of repairs each time the pipelines are hacked is also an issue. All these make up the yet-to-be-reconciled balance of $10.8 billion.

“All the parties involved in the reconciliation process are aware of these facts and the figures are being thoroughly scrutinised.

“At the end of the day, they will make their findings public as they did last time. It is therefore incorrect for anyone or medium to continue to misinform the public that the sum of $10.8b or $12b of oil revenue is ‘missing’.

“It is important for public commentators and the media to stick to the facts and avoid undue sensationalism in the process of analysing and interpreting the news.

“Our commentators owe our dear country a duty to avoid misinforming and misleading our people so that together we can move Nigeria forward.

“The truth of the matter, he argued, “is that as at the time of the press conference, $30 billion of the alleged unremitted oil revenue had been reconciled by all the parties involved.

“Dr. Okonjo-Iweala did explain that the reconciliation was an ongoing process and that the balance of $10.8b is still being reconciled,” the NNPC added.

It said at no time did anybody, neither Okonjo-Iweala nor Sanusi, say that the outstanding $10.8b was “missing’’.

“It is simply curious how some section of the media are not prepared to see the difference between the two positions – reconciliation in progress versus money missing.

“These two positions are simply not the same thing no matter the angle from which anyone chooses to see them.

“Having made that point, it is also pertinent to further clarify that NNPC as a national oil company is saddled with certain onerous responsibilities that other oil companies are freed from,” it added.

Babatunde Akinsola
Babatunde Akinsolahttps://naija247news.com
Babatunde Akinsola is aNaija247news' Southwest editor. He's based in Lagos and writes on the Yoruba Nation political issues, news and investigative reports

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