The Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has said that the controversy between the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation over the missing $49.8bn has been resolved.

Okonjo-Iweala spoke on Wednesday in Abuja at a joint news conference with the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke; CBN Governor, Mr. Lamido Sanusi; Director-General, Budget Office of the Federation, Dr. Bright Okogu; and the Group Managing Director, NNPC, Mr. Andrew Yakubu.

However, the officials, who appeared before the Senate earlier on Wednesday openly contradicted one another on the amount of shortfall between what was supposed to accrue to the Federation Account from crude oil sales and the actual accrual.

While Sanusi said $12bn shortfall had been discovered by all the agencies involved during their reconciliation meetings, Okonjo-Iweala quickly interjected that $10.8bn was the actual amount involved.

He said a lot had happened since he raised the alarm about the unremitted funds because the CBN, ministries of Finance and Petroleum Resources, Federal Inland Revenue Service and the Department of Petroleum Resources set up a joint committee to reconcile their differences.

He said the committee had made a lot of progress, especially with the NNPC explanation that $24bn of the amount in question, which was put at $67bn, was actually not its crude but that which was shipped on behalf of third parties.

He said the third parties included oil companies that paid taxes in crude and the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company for third party financing, adding that “that already addresses half of the figure ($49.8bn).

Sanusi added that the second part of the alleged missing funds was about domestic crude lifting, which was put at $28bn and “from which we feel there is a shortfall and we had a press conference and talked about that shortfall.”

The CBN boss said, “There is a general consensus among us that there is a shortfall even though the amount is being disputed; for us in the central bank, the shortfall is about $12bn.

“Now, we are still in the process of reconciling that figure and we have not yet started talking about the export sales tax, which is $20bn, which we will reconcile.

“The finance ministry has told us that even before this letter, there had been ongoing negotiations and discussions with the NNPC and the FAAC, and these numbers have always been discussed at the level of convenience of the finance (ministry).

“So, since the objective of this committee and for all of us on this side is actually to get to the bottom of it and find out exactly the amounts that need to be remitted and what needs to be done and recommend action, what I will like to do is that given the progress, we have made a request to be given more time to continue with this process and come back with a final position among us”

However, Okonjo- Iweala interjected and said, “I just want to add that what we found out was $10.8bn, he (Sanusi) mentioned $12bn.”

She said although the shortfall had been acknowledged by the NNPC, its magnitude was still being disputed by the corporation.

Okonjo-Iweala said, “We have been able to get to the bottom of the $49.8bn that was indicated in the CBN memo. But also due to the way that the accounting for the crude was read, some of it that was being lifted for other parties to the tune of $24bn was said to be missing, but it has been accounted for.

“So, the bulk of the sum of $49bn has been accounted for and that is what the reconciliation exercise is about. So, it is very clear that this is not missing.

“However, both finance (ministry) and NNPC have been in discussion to reconcile. We do so every month after the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee meeting. We reconcile our figures. It is not an easy thing.

“In the course of the reconciliation, from January 2012 to July 2013, we have looked at a shortfall of about N1.7tn, the equivalent of $10.8bn.

“That is the amount that we have been discussing; and of course, the NNPC has been disputing some of it, but it is an ongoing reconciliation. We will still continue; we do it every month.

“We will continue our work after now until we can come to terms with what is actually the shortfall and what is due to come to the Federation Account.”

Sanusi had said the fact that he raised the alarm about the alleged missing money was not a conclusion that it was diverted but that he was merely performing his role as banker to the Federal Government.

He said, “The governor of the central bank did send that letter with those contents because the CBN, the finance ministry and the Federal Government were very concerned over the years by the very low rate of accretion to the reserves, particularly the depletion of the Excess Crude Account in spite of what seemed to be very high level of oil sales.

“Now, in investigating and trying to understand where the revenue leakages were, our attention was drawn to the huge difference between what appeared to be exports of crude made by the NNPC and the amount repatriated into the crude account of the Federal Government.

“The numbers were $65bn exported by NNPC and $15bn repatriated to the Federation Account out of that. Now, in keeping with our duty as bankers to the government, we have the responsibility to alert the President to the situation and request a thorough investigation of this matter.

“I repeat that we did not see the letter as the conclusion of the investigation, but an invitation to investigate; so, the conclusion that $49.8bn is missing was wrong as we had the allegation that it was not remitted.”

But explaining the reason for the shortfall, the NNPC, in a joint statement with the CBN and the Ministry of Finance, blamed it on subsidy claims, undiscovered crude, product losses and cost of strategic petroleum product storage not currently captured in the Petroleum Products Pricing and Regulatory Agency’s template for refunds.

The corporation said the figures were well known to all stakeholders at the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee, adding that the shortfall was always updated on monthly basis.

It, however, said all parties concerned were working through the ongoing reconciliation efforts to resolve the shortfall.

Admitting that there was some level of shortfall in the amount remitted to the Federation Account, Alison-Madueke argued that the deficit had been known for a long time.

She said, “We have come to a very clear understanding that there is a listed amount of which most part has been accounted for. There is a shortfall, which has already been mentioned but that shortfall has been known for quite some time.

“It has been acknowledged by the NNPC, but the extent of the shortfall has also been disputed by the NNPC for quite some time now. The NNPC has always participated in the reconciliation meetings with the CBN, FIRS and DPR, and that will continue.”

According to her, the reconciliation efforts are in order to come to an agreed figure. She stressed that crude oil production in Nigeria had been under a lot of scourge due to the high level of theft.

“We have been very aggressive to increase our production and reduce the level of theft. In terms of our efforts, we have over the last two weeks seen an increase from a drop of 2.2 million barrels per day to what it is today, which is 2.38mbpd,” the minister said.

At the Senate, the President of the upper legislative chamber, David Mark, described the issue of the $49.8bn as very important, hence, the decision of the Senate to ask its committee to establish the facts

God is fighting GEJ war.They will gather and fail.

when will Sanusi resign for misleading the Nation?

It takes Sanusi 4 years as CBN governor to be schooled on the simple "arithmetic" of how oil revenue is calculated. lol

babytoun: It takes Sanusi 4 years as CBN governor to be schooled on the simple "arithmetic" of how oil revenue is calculated. lol

Our CBN Governor cant even get his numbers right

we need a proper economist as CBN Governor

mikeansy: when will Sanusi resign for misleading the Nation?

did you read the article at all?there's still $12billion shortfall.even if we're to go by ngozi's figure of $10.8billion,that's still a disaster by all standards.sorry to burst your bubble but whether sanusi got his arithmetic right or not doesn't distract from the fact that there's a massive shortfall in what nnpc remits.

Delafruita: did you read the article at all?there's still $12billion shortfall.even if we're to go by ngozi's figure of $10.8billion,that's still a disaster by all standards.sorry to burst your bubble but whether sanusi got his arithmetic right or not doesn't distract from the fact that there's a massive shortfall in what nnpc remits.

did you read the article at all? Have you followed the history of this saga

50billion and 12billion is not the same thing. Our CBN Governor should know his numbers

As we speak Sanusi ended the Senate meeting by promising to go and reconcile his numbers, he should have done that first before blowing things out of proportion.

mikeansy:

did you read the article at all? Have you followed the history of this saga

50billion and 12billion is not the same thing. Our CBN Governor should know his numbers

As we speak Sanusi ended the Senate meeting by promising to go and reconcile his numbers, he should have done that first before blowing things out of proportion.

in essence if the amount missing is "only" 12billion dollars or 2trillion naira which by the way is half our yearly budget,we can all go and sleep since its not the 50billion dollars sanusi stated earlier

$12billion is almost N2 trillion. One would hope that those who are condemning Sanusi for exaggerating his numbers would also have the integrity to condemn NNPC with equal zeal i.e. unless tribalism and bigory advised their responses hitherto

All public letters written to the president are all in effort to disparage and rubbish him thus, bringing him to bad light with his people. I think he is being vindicated little by little though.

ndu_chucks: $12billion is almost N2 trillion. One would hope that those who are condemning Sanusi for exaggerating his numbers would also have the integrity to condemn NNPC with equal zeal i.e. unless tribalism and bigory advised their responses hitherto

The $10.9bn 'shortfall' has not be declared 'missing' by anybody, not even by Sanusi here. Read d Article again. It has just not been Reconciled yet. And d Reconciliation meeting is still ongoing, as also said by Sanusi. We await the end of d process; meanwhile, you chaps shld quit acting Sillly and Unintelligent till then....

checkfidel: All public letters written to the president are all in effort to disparage and rubbish him thus, bringing him to bad light with his people. I think he is being vindicated little by little though.

You dey mind dem? Sanusi was said to hv apologise to d Finance Minister and NNPC in that meeting, stating that he was initiali 'misled' by his Reserves Department. Imagine that!! Can you imagine that d CBN and its Gov does not know how Oil money is distributed and paid into Govt's Coffers? You bliv that?... If after d ongoing Reconciliation process, All or substantiali all d so-called $50bn 'missing' money is accounted for, Sanusi shld (or be forced to) tender his Resignation and dealt with appropiately...

Delafruita: in essence if the amount missing is "only" 12billion dollars or 2trillion naira which by the way is half our yearly budget,we can all go and sleep since its not the 50billion dollars sanusi stated earlier

as it stands no amount was declared missing in that meeting

Sanusi is now reconciling the figures. something he should have done before going to press and misleading the Nation

taharqa: The $10.9bn 'shortfall' has not be declared 'missing' by anybody, not even by Sanusi here. Read d Article again. It has just not been Reconciled yet. And d Reconciliation meeting is still ongoing, as also said by Sanusi. We await the end of d process; meanwhile, you chaps shld quit acting Sillly and Unintelligent till then....

Who said the money is missing? The issue for me is that, the money should have been handed over to CBN by now. Who is enjoying the interest rate being paid on that money in the account it is currently deposited? Is it lawful to commandeer that kind of money, contrary to rules which govern the movement of such funds?