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NNPC disagrees with Reps over unremitted N142.7billion

By on March 13, 2013

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC has debunked the allegations by the House of Representative Committee on Finance, headed by Hon. Abdulmumin Jibrin, that the Corporation was owing the federal government, N142.7 billion as unremitted Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) which was to be retired to the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF).

Setting the record straight at a press briefing in Abuja yesterday, and vividly captured by DailyPost, the Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Engr. Andrew Yakubu, explained that while a committee set up between the Corporation and Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (AGF) were working to reconcile the NNPC’s books, Jibrin hurriedly went to town with un-reconciled figures.

The GMD who was represented at the briefing by the General Manager, Media, Dr. Farouk Ibrahim, said the decision to raise a committee between the NNPC and the AGD’s office was reached at a meeting with the Honourable members.

According to Ibrahim, “Curiously enough, even before the team could conclude their assignment, Hon. Jibrin for reasons that we cannot fathom, but certainly calculated to put the Corporation in bad light went to town with news that his Committee has uncovered a debt of N142.7b and that the Corporation was owing the Federal Government.”

He however declined to give details on the true position of the alleged withheld funds, saying the reconciliation was on-going but pointed out that despite its challenges, the NNPC has continued, over the years, to provide to the Federation Account about N400 billion naira monthly from its upstream operations.

While explaining that the team had not completed its assignment before the allegations were made public, Ibrahim noted that the NNPC cannot be expected to sweep funds into the Consolidated Revenue Fund, since the law specifically says it is surplus that should be so paid.

“In a situation where due to no fault of ours, we operate at a loss, there would not be any surplus to pay. Of course, we are all living witnesses to the causes of our operational losses. These include having to buy crude at international rate but sell at regulated prices,” he said.

Another reason cited for the operational loses, he said, was the NNPC’s role as product supplier of last resort, adding that “this particular role has taken a huge toll on our finances. But as federal government owned corporation, we take this responsibility seriously. We are pleased with our performance in this respect. Then there is the issue of pipeline vandalism and crude oil theft,” he said.