‘NNPC spends $10.8bn on subsidy, pipeline repairs’

Posted by admin Latest Politics, Oil Politics Sunday, February 9th, 2014

By BLAISE UDUNZDE

Finally, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has cleared the air on the alleged missing $10.8 billion, admitting that the amount was used for pipelines repairs, payment of subsidy claims and maintenance of the nation’s reserves.

Its Acting Group General Manager, Public Affairs, Umar Ibrahim, explained on Saturday that the reconciliation of the figure would soon be over. Sanusi had on Tuesday last week, at a public hearing organized by the Senate Committee on Finance, alleged that the NNPC did not remit $20 billion into the Federation Account.

He had earlier accused the Corporation of not remitting $49 billion; but after reconciliation with relevant agencies, the amount came down to about $12 billion. The CBN Governor, however, explained that he did not make the allegation to tarnish anyone’s public image, but did so in the best interest of the economy.

Sanusi told the Senate that the NNPC had not remitted $20 billion to the Federation Account. But 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. 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 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 N50,” he explained.

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 which 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.

-Sunwp_posts