The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) yesterday refuted the allegation by the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) that it failed to remit $21billion to the Federation Account.
The commission, in the report submitted to the House of Representatives Committee on Public Accounts had said the NNPC spent the money without authorisation.
But the Group Managing Director (GMD) of the corporation, Mallam Mele Kyari, told journalists in Lagos, at the inauguration of logistics support vehicles to the Nigerian Navy by the national oil company that it was impossible not to pay the statutory funds or take money from the account.
While dismissing the accusation that the revenue from Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) , was unremitted, Kyari stressed that with the way the fund is structured, no organisation can refuse to pay or take money from it.
“I think it is just impossible not to remit money into the Federation Account. It is also impossible to withdraw any money illegally from any account of government.
“By the way, the NLNG accounts are Treasury Single Accounts (TSA) and domiciled with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
“It is practically impossible. We thought the accusation was very pedestrian and we didn’t bother to react to it because we know that it is impossible,’’ he stated.
Earlier, Kyari said the intervention of Operation Awatse had reduced the NNPC losses on the system 2B pipeline network by more than 50 per cent.
“It has also increased our flow from less than 800k tonnes to 2.6metric tonnes by the end of 2019. This is a huge success,” he said.
At the event, Kyari lauded the various interventions of security agencies, which he said had enabled NNPC’s seamless operations nationwide.
He said losses from vandalism and oil theft reduced from N800 billion in 2018 to less than N82 billion, a feat he said was attributable to the clampdown on vandals by joint security efforts.
He added that under his watch, the NNPC has stayed committed to its transparency pledge, noting the corporation is the only agency that publishes its operations account monthly.
“We promised Nigerians that this company, our own company owned by all of us, the over 200 million Nigerians will be accountable to all.
“Today, everybody knows what we are doing. We are the only company that publishes its operations account on monthly basis. We have never published the annual financial statement of this company but it was done for 2018 and 2019.
“Nigerians now know what we are doing on their behalf and that has caused us to improve in our performance. We have reduced our losses from what was N800 billion in 2018 to less than N82 billion and we are very proud of this.
“Therefore, in terms of accountability and transparency, we have achieved that and we also promise that we will perform excellently on behalf of the Nigerian people,” he stressed.
