From Isaac Anumihe, Abuja
IN line with the position of the Auditor General of the Federation that Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), was yet to remit the sum of N4.9 trillion to the Federation Account, the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), yesterday confirmed that available records at its disposal indicate that between January 2011 and December, 2015, the total indebtedness of NNPC to the Federation Account was N4.9 trillion.
This, therefore, confirms the Auditor General of the Federation’s claim on NNPC’S indebtedness to the government.
According to RMAFC Chairman, Mohammed, the figure included NNPC’s claims for subsidy on petroleum products, crude and product losses, strategic reserves and the pipeline maintenance cost.
The statement added that while the said report claimed that NNPC owed the sum of N3.2 trillion to the Federation Account in 2014, from domestic crude sale, the Commission’s records revealed that the corporation owed the Federation Account the sum of N1.99 trillion only in 2014 from domestic crude sales. Therefore, the figure quoted by the Auditor-General of the Federation must have included revenues from other sources.
“With regards to the alleged payment of US$235 million realised from the sale of Natural Gas into an undisclosed Escrow Accounts by the NNPC, the Commission explained that the NNPC on behalf of the NLNG had entered into agreements with three (3) International Oil Companies (IOCs) including Nigeria Agip Oil Company (NAOC), Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC), Total E&P Nigeria Limited (TEPNG) under a Modified Carry Agreement (MCA) proceeds from which are deposited in Escrow Accounts for funding the various Gas projects under the LNNG. The total amount transferred to the various accounts from 2012 to November 2015 was $1.615 billion. The Commission, through the FAAC Post Mortem, has consistently requested the NNPC to provide it with updated financial statements on the projects but NNPC was yet to respond” RMAFC, said. Recall that the Commission had been working with NNPC to reconcile the figures following a tripartite meeting held with the NNPC, Federal Ministry of Finance (FMF) and RMAFC in December, 2015 where it was agreed that in view of the subsidy and other claims by NNPC, the Forensic Audit of the NNPC was very critical in establishing which party was actually indebted to the other. The Forensic Audit was expected to be concluded by the end of March, 2016