020 Senate indicts NNPC in unremitted revenue, order refund of billions (His royal highness SLS vindicated) Jonathanians how market? dailytrust.ng/top-stories/28999-senate-indicts-nnpc-in-unremitted-revenue-order-refund-of-billions The Senate yesterday in plenary indicted the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and its subsidiaries for engaging in illegal withholding and spending of billions of naira between January 2012 and July 2013 and directed that the monies be refunded with interest. The Senators unanimously adopted the report of the committee on Finance which investigated the allegations of non-remittance of $49.8 billion to the Federation Account as crude oil proceeds by the NNPC. Former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), now Emir of Kano, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi had alleged the money was not remitted from January 2012 to July 2013 by the NNPC. Before adopting the report, the Senators debated it and expressed shock over what they called “illegality and impunity” with which the corporation embarked on expenditure amounting to billions of Naira without recourse to the National Assembly. Committee chairman Senator Ahmed Makarfi (PDP, Kaduna) had on May 28th submitted the 73-page report to the Senate. The panel also said the corporation illegally used N544 billion to pay kerosene subsidies within the period. The committee did not clearly state the total amount confirmed to be unremitted by the NNPC within the period, but a review of the report indicate that about $10.6 billion due the Federation Account was withheld and spent by the corporation without appropriation. Sanusi first made the allegation in a September 2013 through a letter to President Jonathan which leaked in December. NNPC has consistently denied any wrong doing, saying much of the alleged unremitted funds were spent on its operations. The Makarfi-committee report made several other findings indicting the NNPC, including overspending on budgeted funds, overstating staff salaries and curious increase in pipeline surveillance cost without corresponding decrease in crude oil theft. “Pipeline surveillance cost increased from $2.23 in 2012 to $11.15 million in 2013 without corresponding decrease in pipeline oil losses,” the Senate report said. The panel therefore asked NPDC, which is a subsidiary of the NNPC, “to remit to the Federation Account $447.8 million being balance of royalty and petroleum profit tax.” The panel also asked NNPC to furnish it with details on $200 million it expended in respect of holding strategic stock, crude oil losses and maintenance of installations and pipelines. It went on to recommend that since the president allowed unbudgeted spending to be made on kerosene subsidy, he should submit a supplementary appropriation bill to cover those sums. The report, according to Makarfi committee, was without prejudice to the forensic audit of the NNPC instituted by the Federal Government. However, the Senate unanimously rejected the committee’s recommendation which called for the scrap of the fuel subsidy regime arguing that Nigerians being citizens of an oil producing nation must benefit from the God-given resources like their counterparts in other countries. They also called for the prosecution of all those found wanting in the subsidy fraud to serve as deterrent to others. Speaking during consideration of the report, Senate President David Mark told his colleagues that the National Assembly is also guilty as it watched while the NNPC was milking the country dry. According to the Senate President, “one thing is very obvious; due process has not been followed”.
Posted on: Fri, 11 Jul 2014 07:45:14 +0000
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