The Nigerian National Petroleum
Corporation on Tuesday denied claims that it failed to remit $12.9bn
dividend from the Nigeria LNG Limited for a period of eight years;
instead, it said that part of the funds was reinvested in the
gas-producing firm.
According to the NNPC, the funds were
reinvested in the development of the Brass LNG and Olokola LNG projects,
adding that it was not right for anybody to say the money was missing.
Reacting to the latest report released
by the Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, which
indicted the corporation for the non-remittance of $3.8bn and N358bn in
2013 as well as $12.9bn, being dividends received from the NLNG from
2005 to 2013, the NNPC argued that the funds were utilised legally in
running its operations, while the balance had been transferred to the
Central Bank of Nigeria.
Speaking on the sidelines of a
stakeholders’ dialogue organised by NEITI in Abuja, the Group General
Manager, Debt Management/Federal Allocation, NNPC, Mr. Godwin Okonkwo,
maintained that the NLNG dividends were never misappropriated nor
withheld by the corporation, but that every amount spent was with the
approval of the Federal Government.
According to him, a large portion of the
funds, with the approval of the Federal Government, was used to fund
various gas projects in the country, while the balance has been moved
from the Treasury Single Account to the Federation Account in the CBN.
Okonkwo said, “Before now, the position
is that the NLNG belongs to the Federal Government and the NNPC is an
arm of the Federal Government. The NLNG dividends were there and if
there was any kobo that went out of it, it was done with the approval of
the Federal Government. No kobo leaves the NLNG dividends without
appropriate approval.
“Part of the spending for the NLNG
dividends was the development of NLNG trains — Brass LNG and Olokola LNG
— and it is not right for anybody to say the money is now missing. And
with the current regime that says the NLNG belongs to the federation,
the balance of the money has been transferred through the TSA to the
CBN. Nothing leaves there without appropriate approval. The NNPC is not
an unorganised place where people do things anyhow.”
The NNPC manager stated further that the
$393m joint venture cash call refunded by the Nigerian Petroleum
Development Company to the National Petroleum Investment Services was
not remitted to the Federation Account because the amount was used to
finance its operations as stipulated in its budget for the period.
On claims that the NNPC and NPDC had yet
to pay about $1.7bn from the transfer of some oil assets to the NPDC,
Okonkwo stated that the actual amount would be determined by the
Department of Petroleum Resources, which was currently at the last lap
of evaluating the amount to be paid.
He, however, admitted that the NNPC and
its subsidiaries made some mistakes in the past, but stressed that these
errors were being corrected now to prevent a reoccurrence.
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