By Halimah Olamide
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) has said that it is working with relevant agencies to ensure a quick reconciliation of its accounts.
Its statement came against the background of calls by a non-governmental organisation for a probe of several monies allegedly owed to the Federation by the national oil company.
The company, through a statement by its Chief Corporate Communication Officer, Mr. Femi Soneye, said NNPC Limited will collaborate with the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) and others involved in the reconciliation committee set up by President Bola Tinubu to investigate alleged indebtedness to the Federation by both NNPC Limited and Federation Accounts Allocation Committee, FAAC.
Describing the claims by the non-governmental organisation as “baseless,” the company said this is considering the fact that NEITI itself had dismissed many of the allegations in the said 2021 report, following a series of engagements with NNPC Ltd.
The statement said, “NNPC Ltd states that at the outset of President Bola Ahmed 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 N400bn monthly subsidy bill, which subsequently put a strain on its revenues and finances.”
NNPC also stated that that subsidy bill accumulated to up to N3.736trillion as of May 31st 2023, adding “With respect to gas-to-power debts, the non-payment of NNPCL’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.”
It added that the receivables due from the federation to NNPC Exploration & Production Limited (NEPL) as of 31st May 2023 amounted to $712million (equivalent to N309.07 billion at N434.08/US$1) for revenues not remitted to NEPL but paid into the Federation account.
“While the Federation owed NNPCL the sum of N4.207trillion as net indebtedness, the Company was only indebted to the Federation in the sum of N2.852 trillion, made up mainly of outstanding Good and Valuable Consideration (GVC) in respect of government upstream divestments, royalties and Petroleum Profit Taxes (PPT).
“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 in 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 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 Ltd’s book remains open to all our stakeholders as we remain committed to delivering value to Nigerians with integrity and as espoused in our principles of Transparency, Accountability and Performance Excellence (TAPE), the bulwark of the Mele Kyari leadership of the company.”