In a letter to the President of Nigeria, the Central Bank Governor, Lamido Sanusi alleged that the NNPC didn't remit a total of 49.8 billion dollars in to the Federation Account between January 2012 and July 2013.
The news of this enormous sum missing from the State's coffers is coming on the heels of accussations against the Federal Government and its purported calm disposition towards corruption in government agencies.In a swift reaction to CBN's claims, NNPC has denied owing the government and accused the Central Bank Governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, of getting no familiarity with the structure of remittances of crude oil proceeds.
The Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Mr Andrew Yakubu stated that the NNPC was by statutory requirement responsible for direct remittances of only one stream of crude oil lifting – the equity crude, which represents about 27.5 per cent of the entire lifting.
The four other streams like the royalty oil, tax oil, volume for third party financing and NPDC equity volume are paid to other agencies which remit to the government,” Mr Yakubu explained.
Speaking on Channels Television's Saturday breakfast programme, Sunrise, retired banker, Edwin Ikhinmwin argued that the said sum of money is “somewhere in the name of the Federal Government of Nigeria, maybe it hasn't reached the CBN yet.”
“It can not be missing,” he said, adding that this amount is too huge to be in any account without red flags being raised and so the letter by the CBN governor is just a precautionary measure to ensure that the funds are tracked and remitted to the FAAC.
Based on Ikhinmwin, the letter published by the CBN governor hints at politics being played in the latest scandal involving the petroleum agency.
He however said that when the allegations of the CBN turn out true, the governor must certanly be commended if you are courageous especially in the face of claims that the Presidency's gestures towards corruption is mild.
However, Lawyer and Petroleum expert, Engineer Yomi Orenuga, raised questions regarding the silence of the CBN regarding the unremitted funds within the time which it said the NNPC didn't fulfill its obligations, inspite of the monthly meetings they hold to balance their accounts.
“Reconciliation is performed almost on a monthly basis with all the agencies of government, even from the IOC's that lift crude oil. You reconcile and give reports of your liftings and productions,” he said.
In a telephone interview, the Group Executive Director, Exploration and Production, NNPC, Abiye Membere, disclosed that the agency had remitted about 18 billion in 2013 nevertheless the CBN acknowledged 15.52 billion.
Mr Membere also claimed that the NNPC paid significantly more than 10.3 billion in to the FAAC in 2012 and that the CBN did not need the accurate figure.
In his reaction, energy expert, Engineer Bala Zaka stated that the entire situation attests to “a lack of congruency and inter-agency data and information sharing” between the two agencies.
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