NNPC Remitted N1.26tn to Federation Account in 2018 —Okonkwo

• NNPC Remitted N1.26tn to Federation Account in 2018 —Okonkwo

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation on Tuesday announced that it met its financial obligations to the Federation Account in 2018 by remitting N1.26tn as against the N1.22tn projected in the 2018 budget.

The NNPC said it recorded a surplus of N41bn in its remittance to the Federation Account.

The Managing Director of NNPC Capital, Mr Godwin Okonkwo, disclosed this when he represented the Group Managing Director, Maikanti Baru, during a presentation to the House of Representatives Ad Hoc Committee on the Investigation of the Non-Remittances of Funds to the Federation Account by the corporation between July 2017 and December 2018 in Abuja.

NNPC’s Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Ndu Ughamadu, in a statement issued in Abuja, quoted the GMD as saying that although 2.3 million barrels per day of crude oil were proposed in the 2018 budget, national daily production for the period under review oscillated between 1.9mbpd to 1.89mbpd.

Baru said the two sources of inflows into the Federation Account from the NNPC were equity crude oil sales less cost of recovery from the Joint Venture cash call arrears and domestic crude less cost recovery.

He noted that the JV cash call arrears were being efficiently managed to ensure steady inflows to the Federation Account.

Okonkwo said, “The NNPC ensures that it contributes to the cost of the production of crude oil and gas in the upstream sector to avoid a repeat of the mistakes of the past. If we had made cash call payments in the past, the arrears that we are liquidating now would not have arisen.

“The current situation creates a win-win scenario for the country. The NNPC is strategically saving for the rainy day to make a better future for all of us by liquidating the arrears.”

He noted that the corporation, on a regular basis, balanced up with the Federation Account Allocation Committee and the JV cash calls in order to make sure that the future generations did not suffer from the legacy debt.

Okonkwo dismissed the allegations by commissioners of finance of under remittances by the corporation, adding that the NNPC was a going business concern that met financial obligations to its various stakeholders.

Baru stated that investment in the oil and gas industry took time to mature, adding that if the NNPC failed in its obligation to invest in the sector, there would be nothing to share by the various tiers of government.