The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) has vehemently refuted a report claiming that it failed to remit $15 billion in oil revenues to the Federation’s account. The Chief Corporate Communications Officer of NNPCL, Olufemi Soneye, issued this statement in response to the 2021 report by the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI).
The 2021 NEITI report alleged that NNPCL had not remitted $15 billion to the federation account, which led to a lawsuit by the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) against President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration for failing to investigate the missing funds.
NNPCL clarified that as of May 31, 2023, the subsidy bill had accumulated to N3.736 trillion. The company also stated that the receivables owed to NNPC Exploration & Production Limited (NEPL) from the Federation, as of the same date, amounted to $712 million (equivalent to N309.07 billion at an exchange rate of N434.08/US$1) for revenues that had not been remitted to NEPL but had been paid into the Federation account.
The statement from NNPCL further highlighted financial details, indicating that the Federation owed NNPC Ltd. the sum of N4.207 trillion as net indebtedness. Conversely, the Company was only indebted to the Federation in the amount of N2.852 trillion, which was primarily composed of outstanding Good and Valuable Consideration (GVC) related to government upstream divestments, royalties, and Petroleum Profit taxes (PPT).
Regarding gas-to-power debts, the non-payment of NNPC Ltd.’s share of upstream joint venture gas supplied to government-owned plants resulted in an accumulation of indebtedness by the Federation, amounting to N174.07 billion.
However, NNPCL did not provide specific details regarding the N200 billion budgeted for the repair of Nigerian refineries that were unaccounted for between 2020 and 2021, as highlighted in the NEITI’s report.
In the same statement, the company expressed its commitment to collaborating with NEITI and all relevant stakeholders in the Reconciliation Committee established by President Tinubu. The committee’s purpose is to investigate, review, and reconcile financial records to ensure transparency and accountability in the nation’s oil and gas sector.
