Oritsegbubemi Omatseyin
Lagos — The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPC, says it will collaborate with the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, NEITI, and relevant stakeholders in the reconciliation committee set up by President Bola Tinubu to investigate, review, and reconcile financial records on alleged indebtedness to the Federation by both the NNPC and Federation Accounts Allocation Committee, FAAC.
This is coming on the heels of calls by a non-governmental organisation, NGO, for a probe of several monies allegedly owed to the Federation by the national oil company.
In a statement by the Chief Corporate Communications Officer, Olufemi Soneye, NNPC stated that the claims by the NGO were baseless because NEITI itself had dismissed many of the allegations in the said 2021 report, following a series of engagements with NNPC Ltd.
The NNPC stated that at the outset of President Tinubu’s administration, it was made to sell Premium Motor Spirit, PMS, imported into the country at one-third of its value, a development that gave rise to an average of N400 billion monthly subsidy bill, which subsequently put a strain on its revenues and finances.
The subsidy bill rose to about N3.736 trillion as of May 31, 2023, the company further stated.
Concerning gas-to-power debts, the non-payment of NNPC’s share of upstream joint venture gas supplied to the government-owned plants had led to the accumulation of indebtedness of N174.07 billion by the Federation.
Similarly, the receivables due from the Federation to NNPC Exploration and Production Limited, NEPL, as of 31 May 2023 amounted to $712 million (equivalent to N309.07 billion at N434.08/US$1) for revenues not remitted to NEPL but paid into the Federation account, the NNPC added.
According to the statement by the company, while the Federation owed NNPCL the sum of N4.207 trillion as net indebtedness, it was only indebted to the Federation in the sum of N2.852 trillion, made up mainly of outstanding goods and valuable consideration in respect of government upstream divestments, royalty, and petroleum profit taxes.
“We would like to also use this opportunity to clarify that over the years, our relationship with NEITI has been very cordial, as seen in August 2020 when we became an EITI supporting company 2020, joining a group of over 65 extractives companies, state-owned enterprises (SOEs), commodity traders, financial institutions and industry partners committed to observing the EITI’s supporting company expectations”.
“Indeed, aside from being a signatory to several EITI’s global ethics and standards, NNPC Ltd had on the sidelines of the United Nation’s General Assembly, UNGA, in Washington DC, in September this year, signed up to the United Nations Global Compact on human rights, labour, environment, and anti-corruption, thereby becoming the first state-owned oil company to join the global initiative,” NNPC said.
