By Adaobi Rhema Oguejiofor
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited has revealed that it will continue to collaborate with the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) and all relevant stakeholders in the Reconciliation Committee set up by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to investigate, review and reconcile the financial records on alleged indebtedness to the Federation by both NNPCL and the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC).
This was disclosed in a statement signed by the Chief Corporate Communications Officer of NNPCL, Olufemi O. Soneye, on Monday.
The development is coming on the heels of calls by a non-governmental organisation for a probe of several monies allegedly owed to the Federation by the national oil company.
According to the statement, the Company said that the claims by the NGO were baseless, considering the fact that NEITI itself had dismissed many of the allegations in the said 2021 report, following a series of engagements with NNPCL.
It also stated that at the outset of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration, the Company 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 national oil company further noted that subsidy bill accumulated to up to N3.736 trillion as of May 31st, 2023. With respect to gas-to-power debts, the non-payment of NNPCL share of upstream joint venture gas supplied to the government-owned plants led to the accumulation of indebtedness of N174.07 billion by the Federation.
Similarly, the receivables due from the federation to NNPC Exploration & Production Limited (NEPL) as of 31st May 2023 amount to $712 million, which is equivalent to N309.07 billion at the N434.08 per US$1 exchange rate, for revenues not remitted to NEPL but paid into the Federation account.
While the Federation owed NNPCL the sum of N4.207 trillion 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 also like to 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, joining a group of over 65 extractive 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 of EITI’s global ethics and standards, NNPCL, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York 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. NNPCL’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,” the statement read in parts.