Alleged Missing $10.8 billion Used For Subsidy, Pipeline Repairs – NNPC

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has explained that the alleged missing $10.8 billion dollars, as claimed by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), was used for pipelines repairs, payment of subsidy claims and maintenance of the nation’s reserve.

The Acting Group General Manager, Public Affairs, NNPC, Mr Umar Ibrahim, told Channels Television on Saturday that the reconciliation of the figure would soon be over.

But it seems like it will not be over soon.

While the NNPC was trying to resolve the $10.8 billion deficit, the CBN Governor, Lamido Sanusi, on Tuesday, gave the Nigerian Senate a new figure. Sanusi told the Senate that the NNPC had not remitted $20 billion to the Federation Account.

Mr Ibrahim pointed out that the CBN had kept changing the figures, insisting that it was affecting the reconciliation process.

“As at December 18, when the press conference was held, the figure was $10.8 billion and I believe that by next week, when we go to the National Assembly, we will come to the end of it. It is a continuous exercise,” he said, referring to the reconciliation process.

According to him, the law establishing the NNPC mandated the corporation to deduct expenditure from proceeds before forwarding the money to the Federation Account.

Subsidy On Kerosene.

Another issue facing the NNPC is the issue of subsidy on Kerosene.

There have been speculations that the subsidy had been suspended by the government but Mr Ibrahim said that the corporation had not received any directive advising it to suspend the subsidy on the product.

“We do not work on hearsay. We have not received a directive or instruction saying that we should stop selling Kerosene at 40.9 Naira per litre. If there was an instruction, it did not come down to us.

“We have been making claims for kerosene subsidies as far back as 2009. To say that there was no claim is wrong. As far as we are concerned, there is subsidy on Kerosene. If you go to any NNPC Mega Station you will not buy kerosene more than 50 Naira,” he explained.

Mr  Ibrahim also called on Nigerians to present the corporation with proof that the subsidy had been suspended.

Many households have lamented the hike in the price of the product, a development retailers have attributed to the removal of the subsidy on Kerosene.

But the NNPC’s spokesman insisted that the corporation was not mandated to monitor the prices of the product, advising Nigerians to report retailers selling above the approved 50 Naira per litre to the appropriate body.

He further said that the NNPC was not interested in the subsidy regime, as it was a policy of the government.

“We are not interested in buying Kerosene at international prices and selling at regulated prices. The subsidy regime is a policy of the government and the day they do not want it, we will go by the way of the government.

“We have been put under tremendous pressure over the issue and we are not interested in it. We want to focus on our core business and not on importing at international price and selling at regulated prices,” he stressed.

Mr Ibrahim absolved the NNPC of any secrecy in its account books, saying that “the corporation’s account books are open for audit”.

“We do not run our business on the pages of the newspapers.  We do have auditors, internal and external auditors that come and audit our books. The Auditor General’s office and the Accountant General’s office have access to our books. The National Assembly has access to our books and this people are representing the Nigerian public. So our books have been open to those who should have access to it,” he said.

The corporation had called on the CBN governor to provide facts to back his claim that $20 billion was not remitted to the Federation Account.