The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has called on the Central Bank of Nigeria to be consistent with figures it claims the NNPC did not remit to the Federation Account, as it is affecting the reconciliation process.
At a Tuesday briefing of the Senate Committee on Finance on the crude oil monies allegedly unaccounted for by the corporation, the Central Bank Governor, Lamido Sanusi, insisted that $20 billion was not remitted into the Federation Account by the NNPC, a figure higher than the $10.8 billion earlier quoted.
In a telephone conversation, the NNPC’s Acting Group General Manager, Public Affairs, Mr Omar Ibrahim, told Channels Television on Wednesday that the CBN had changed figures from $49.8 billion to $12 billion and then to $10.8 billion, which was the figure the corporation was reconciling.
“For an institution like the CBN to be giving figures this way, it raises worries. They have to be consistent. You can’t be changing figures the way the CBN is doing,” he said.
Reinvested Revenue
The CBN governor had explained at the briefing that the $20 billion was part of revenue generated by the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company Limited (NPDC), a subsidiary of the NNPC that handles exploration and production.
But Mr Ibrahim pointed out that the NPDC was a subsidiary of the NNPC established 25 years ago and “being prepared as the flagship exploration and production company of Nigeria”.
He explained that the company’s exploration had, within the last four years, increased from about 70,000 barrels per day to over 120,000 barrels per day, as a result of reinvested revenue.
The corporation’s spokesman also said that there was no way all monies made by the NPDC could go into the Federation Account, since they needed to reinvest a substantial amount to sustain the increasing production output.
“What the CBN was saying is that all the monies that the NPDC make should go into the Federation Account.
“If you are to do this, you have not even made provision for its operational expenses. If it does not reinvest what it makes into the business, there is no way its production would have jumped from 70,000 to 120,000 barrels per day that it is producing at the moment,” he stressed.
Mr Ibrahim said that the NNPC’s reconciliation was based on the initial $10.8 billion agreed on in the last reconciliation meeting, but pointed out that the corporation had no problems with the new figures if the CBN would provide facts to back its claims.
He said: “We told the National Assembly yesterday (Tuesday) that by the time we go back, all these things will be over. Now a new figure has been brought.
“Unfortunately, more than once, we have had occasions where figures were dished out to us and the people come back to say sorry we got the figures wrong.”
The Senate has given the NNPC till February 14 to conclude its reconciliation and send the document to the committee.
Mr Ibrahim said that a lot of progress had been made towards ensuring that the reconciliation was concluded.
“What remains is so little and I am very confident that by the time the deadline given to us comes, we will be able to deliver,” he said in optimism.