The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has once again denied fresh reports that ten billion dollars is missing from the treasury following reconciliation of accounts with the Central Bank of Nigeria.It described such reports as false and unfounded.
In a statement issued in Abuja on Sunday, the corporation submitted that after the reconciliation of accounts, neither the Finance Minister, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala nor the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, said ten billion dollars was missing, clarifying that the announcement was that reconciliation is ongoing on the outstanding ten billion dollars.
“The truth of the matter is that as at the time of the press conference, $30billion of the alleged unremitted oil revenue had been reconciled by all the parties involved. Dr. Okonjo-Iweala did explain that the reconciliation was an ongoing process and that the balance of $10.8billion is still being reconciled.
“At no time did anybody, either the Coordinating Minister of the Economy or the CBN governor, say that the outstanding $10.8billion was ‘missing.’ It is simply curious how some sections of the media are not prepared to see the difference between the two positions – reconciliation in progress versus money missing.
These two positions are simply not the same thing no matter the angle from which anyone chooses to see them,” the corporation explained in the statement.
Explaining its many mandate on behalf of the Federal Government, the NNPC said “it has the responsibility of ensuring that there is adequate supply of petroleum products whether the market is favourable or not,” submitting that “the yet-to-be reconciled $10.8billion can be located in the expenses on some of the responsibilities which the corporation carries out on behalf of the Federal Government.
“One of such issues is the unpaid subsidies on kerosene and premium motor spirit (PMS). The truth of the matter is that since 2007 when the late former President Umaru Yar’Adua reviewed the prices of petroleum products, the issue of subsidy payment on kerosene was left hanging and NNPC was mandated to continue to sell the product at a subsidised rate of N50 per litre,” the corporation explained.
The corporation further said “since then, not a dime has been paid to the corporation as subsidy on the product. It is also on record that since January 2012, NNPC has been importing the bulk of the PMS used in the country. NNPC has successfully kept the nation wet with products, especially PMS, these past two years as can be verified from the absence of queues at petrol stations during the end of year festivities.”
Other areas of expenses which the corporation cited as under reconciliation is “the maintenance of national strategic reserves for petroleum products,” explaining that “at every point in time round the year, NNPC maintains huge petroleum products reserves in the national territorial waters as a result of pipeline vandalism which has made access to most of the inland storage facilities impossible.
“For the purpose of strategic reserve, at the rate of 40 million litres of PMS national consumption per day, NNPC maintains about 32 days’ sufficiency of petrol. The cost incurred in this mandate is also part of the $10.8billion yet-to-be-reconciled outstanding figure.
“A third component is the cost of pipeline vandalism and oil theft. These are security issues. Our over 5,000 kilometers of pipelines have been prone to incessant attacks. The cost of repairs each time the pipelines are hacked is also an issue. All these make up the yet-to-be-reconciled balance of $10.8billion,“ the corporation further clarified.”
“All the parties involved in the reconciliation process are aware of these facts and the figures are being thoroughly scrutinized. At the end of the day, they will make their findings public as they did last time. It is therefore incorrect for anyone or medium to continue to misinform the public that the sum of $10.8bn or $12bn of oil revenue is “missing’’ “, the statement concluded.
Source: Tribune
