major financial succour came the
way of newly inaugurated
administration of General
Muhammadu Buhari from the
Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas
(NLNG) in the form of $1.6 billion tax
paid to the Federal Inland Revenue
Service (FIRS) last weekend.
NLNG , a joint venture between the
government and foreign oil majors,
has generated some $85 billion from
exports since its inception 15 years
ago, the company announced last
weekend.
At least 23 states are owing various
amounts of salaries to their workers
with even the Federal Government
borrowing every month to pay its
workers since the beginning of the
year.
“For us, it has been a success story.
Between 1999 when we came on
stream and now, we have realised
some 85 billion dollars from exports
of liquefied natural gas to buyers in
Europe, America and Asia,” chief
executive Babs Omotowa told
reporters in Lagos.
He said the company, which was set
up to harness Nigeria’s vast natural
gas resources and produce liquefied
natural gas for export, has also paid
billions of dollars to the state in tax.
“Just a few days ago, we paid 1.6
billion dollars to the government as
tax and this will go a long way to
assist the new government in solving
some of its problems,” he said.
The new administration of President
Mohammadu Buhari, who became
the first Nigerian to oust a sitting
president in democratic elections in
March, is facing a severe economic
crunch.
About 20 of the country’s 36 states
are unable to pay workers salaries.
Omotowa said the company had paid
30 billion dollars in dividends to its
shareholders over the years,
including the government, which
owns a 49-per-cent stake through the
Nigerian National Petroleum
Corporation (NNPC).
NLNG’s other shareholders are Anglo-
Dutch oil major Shell, which owns
25.6 percent, Total LNG Nigeria, a
subsidiary of French oil giant Total
which owns 15 percent, and Italy’s
Eni, which has 10.4 percent.
Omotowa said plans were afoot to
expand the NLNG plant in Finima on
Bonny island, in the oil and gas-rich
southern Rivers state, by 2017.
“With six trains (production units)
currently operational, plans for
building Train 7 that will lift the total
production capacity to 30 million
metric tons per annum of LNG are
currently progressing,” he said.
He said Train 7 would cost an
estimated 12 billion dollars, create
18,000 construction jobs and bring in
an additional three billion dollars in
exports when operational.
Nigeria currently exports 22 million
metric tons of LNG, making it the
world’s fourth largest LNG exporter.
Liquefied natural gas, which is
created by cooling natural gas and
transforming into liquid for transport
on tankers, represents around nine
percent of global gas demand.

www.economicconfidential.com/succour-as-nlng-pays-1-6-bn-tax-to-fg/

Good...

owk...diz only concern a common man if they do d right thing wt d money,nt stuffing it in their pockets

God keep Blessing my president
May the Lord give you all the necessary resources to govern Nigeria

S

Good for them