NNPCL Owes FG $2bn-NEITI

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPC, failed to remit close to $2 billion to the federation account in 2021, according to the audit report of the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, NEITI.

The 1999 Constitution (as amended) says all revenue by government agencies must be remitted to the federation account to be shared by the federal government as sub-nationals.

The government-owned oil company only started remitting funds to the account in July this year, after 18 months of zero remittance, citing its payment of petrol subsidy for its action.

NEITI has now claimed that what the oil behemoth failed to remit in 2021 alone totaled $1. 9 billion.

This disclosure was made by NEITI in Abuja on Monday, at the unveiling of a report by its chief executive officer Ogbonnaya Orji.

The NEITI boss blamed Nigeria’s crude oil production and oil theft as one of the reasons for the decline in revenue that could have accrued to the government within the period.

According to the report, Crude oil losses due to theft and sabotage decreased by 3.86 percent in 202.

Orji said crude oil production dropped from 39.08 million barrels in 2020 to 37.57 million in 2021.

“This decline is attributed to reduced crude oil production in that period, affecting 29 companies,” he said.

Two months ago in July, the NNPCL said it had started remitting dividend and Production Sharing Contracts (PSC) profit oil to the Federation Account in June this year.

In the interim, the company said it remitted N123 billion for the month.

It also attributed the payment to the removal of petrol subsidy by the federal government.

The remittance is coming barely two months after the NNPC exited the fuel subsidy shackle following the removal by President Bola Tinubu.

Shedding light on the payment, the NNPC Chief Financial Officer, Umar Ajiya, stated that N81 billion of the amount was the monthly interim dividend and N42 billion was 40 percent PSC profit oil.

According to him, “In line with the provisions of the Petroleum Industry Act 2021, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited has commenced the payment of dividend into the federation account.

“The payment of dividend by the NNPC Limited clearly shows that the company under the leadership of the Group Chief Executive Officer, Mallam Mele Kyari is moving in a positive trajectory as enshrined in the PIA” noted an NNPC source.”