The Senate Committee on Gas Resources and the Nigeria National Petroleum
Corporation (NNPC) on Thursday says no 1.05 billion dollars is missing
from the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) dividend account.
Chairman of the committee, Sen. Bassey Akpan, and the Chief Financial
Officer (CFO) of NNPC, Mr Isiaka Abdulrazaq, stated this at a meeting
between members of the committee and NNPC officials in Abuja.
Akpan
and Abdulrazaq noted that contrary to media reports, the issue at stake
is on the legality of the utilisation of the 1.05 billion dollars by
the NNPC for importation of fuel, and not on whether or not the money is
missing. The meeting was in continuation of investigation by the
committee into the utilisation of the 1.05 billion dollars by the NNPC
from the NLNG dividend fund to “augment under-recoveries” in fuel
importation.
The Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Mr Maikanti
Baru, confirmed the spending at a Senate hearing recently. Baru had
said the NNPC took the action following the removal of fuel subsidy in
2016, and the resultant withdrawal of independent oil companies from
importation of the product. He had said the withdrawal was in line with
the NNPC Act which empowers the company to fund its operations from its
revenue. But the lawmakers believe the NLNG dividend fund is revenue
meant for the three tiers of government and thus the NNPC lacks powers
to unilaterally draw from it. At Thursday’s meeting, Akpan said
documents made available to the committee by the NNPC showed that
another 1.05 billion dollars was transferred from the NLNG account. He
asked why the NNPC vide a letter dated Nov. 30, 2016, authorised the CBN
to transfer the money and for what purpose.
Responding,
Abdulrazaq said the transaction was an internal entry of the CBN
regarding the movement of the fund from one NLNG dividend account to
another, and not payment to a third party. Throwing more light on the
transaction, the Group Managing Director, Treasury, of the corporation,
Mr Dapo Segun, said there are two NLNG dividend accounts. Segun
identified the accounts as the NLNG Bank of International Settlement
(BIS) Account and the NLNG Standard Chartered Bank Account. He said that
following the adoption of the Treasury Single Account policy of the
Federation Government, deposit money banks holding the NLNG dividend
funds were directed to transfer them to the CBN. The CBN, according to
him, told the NNPC that it had deposited the funds in the NLNG BIS
Account, which he said was not operational.
Segun said the Nov.
30, 2016 memo cited by the Akpan simply asked the CBN to transfer the
money from the BIS Account to the NLNG Standard Chartered Bank that was
operational. “So, CBN did move the money pursuant to our instruction,
and then subsequently, CBN reversed that transaction which was still
between NLNG accounts. “So, the money never left the NLNG dividend
account; it moved from one NLNG dividend account to another NLNG
dividend account,” he said. After Segun’s clarification, Abdulrazaq told
the senators that the CBN was in the right position to explain why it
reversed the transfer from NLNG Standard Chartered Account to the BIS
Account. He noted that the issues being discussed at the hearing
bordered on the legality of the utilisation of the 1.05 billion dollars
on fuel importation, and not on whether or not the money was missing.
The NNPC CFO said the clarification became necessary following
misleading reports in the media that the money was missing. Abdulrazaq
said the reports were sending wrong signals about the government to its
foreign partners and potential investors. At this point, the committee
chairman pleaded with newsmen around to refrain from misrepresentation
of facts and report the proceeding verbatim. Akpan said, “Please
pressmen, nobody is saying that money is missing, I plead with you to
report the outcome of this meeting verbatim. “We are only engaging the
NNPC to understand the rudiments and dynamics of the NLNG dividend
account,” he said.(NAN)
Source:- Vanguardngr
Share your thoughts