Four-man panel to probe how NNPC blew N3.8tr
 June 30, 2015
 Written by Augustine Ehikioya
Excess crude cash depleted by $2.1m
Buhari: revenues must for treasury
How did theNigerian National Petroleum
Corporation (NNPC) spend N3.8 trillion in three
years?
This is the puzzle a four-man committee has
been asked to resolve.
The four “wise men” are: Governors Adams
Oshiomhole (Edo), Ibrahim Dankwambo (Gombe),
Udom Emmanuel (Akwa Ibom) and Nasir El-Rufai
(Kaduna).
Oshiomhole yesterday broke the news to State
House correspondents after the National
Economic Council (NEC) meeting chaired by Vice
President Yemi Osinbajo at the Presidential Villa,
Abuja.
He was accompanied by the Chairman of the
Nigeria Governors’ Forum and Zamfara State
Governor Abdulaziz Yari, Kaduna State El-Rufai
and Emmanuel.
According to him, from the reports presented to
NEC by NNPC and the office of the Accountant
General of the Federation on Monday, N8.1 trillion
generated from oil sales during the period ought
to have been remitted to the Federation account.
Only N4.3 trillion was remitted to the Federation
Account by NNPC, Oshiomhole said.
He also disclosed that former Minister of Finance
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala spent $2.1 billion from the
Excess Crude Account without approval between
November last year and May 2015.
His words: “This is the first time we had a
National Economic Council meeting in which
under the instructions of the President, NNPC and
the Office of the Accountant General of the
Federation were compelled to provide information
in black and white on issues as they relate to the
total sales of Nigeria crude from 2012 to May
2015. This has never happened before and for us
this is profound.
“What we saw from those numbers, which I
believe Nigerians are entitled to know, is that
whereas the NNPC claimed to have earned about
N8.1 trillion, what NNPC paid into the Federation
Account between 2012 and May 2015 was N4.3
trillion and NNPC withheld and spent N3.8 trillion.
“We are talking about transparency, we are
talking about change. And what we saw from
those numbers – I believe that Nigerians are
entitled to know – is that whereas the NNPC
claimed to have earned N8.1 trillion, what NNPC
paid into the federation acount from 2012 to May
2015 was N4.3 trillion.”
“What it means is that NNPC withheld and spent
N3.8 trillion. The major revelation here is that the
entire federation — the federal government, the
states and all the 774 local governments— the
amount the NNPC paid into the federation
account for distribution to these three tiers of
government came to N4.3 trillion and NNPC alone
took and spent N3.8 trillion.”
He added: “Which means the cost of running
NNPC is much more than the cost of running the
Federal Government. That tells you how much is
missing, what is mismanaged, what is stolen;
these are huge figures.
“We need to earn and spend; it is basic law of
accounting that even if you run a cigarette shop
where you sell Three-Rings, you don’t sell and
spend. You sell, take to your bank account, and
you budget for your procurement including cost of
running your business.
“There is no enterprise manager who goes to the
market and sells and just begins to spend,
otherwise nobody needs to budget. And because
you are running a democracy and you are running
three tiers of government, and the resources
involved belong to these three tiers of
government, the only lawful way decreed by the
constitution, this is not an administrative
regulation; it is not a policy derivable from a
circular; this is from the express letter and spirit
of the Nigerian Constitution as amended that for
example if NNPC needs to spend money, it is
obliged to prepare its budget’ like every other
business enterprise, that budget will be
scrutinised by the executive and forwarded to the
National Assembly and the National Assembly will
accordingly appropriate it.”
He faulted the NNPC for spending without
appropriation.
He said: “If the Federal Government cannot spend
without appropriation, why should any agency
spend without appropriation? NIMASA, for
example, whatever they earned they are supposed
to pay into the federation account and also
present the budget of their requirement.
“This is what the constitution provides for. And
this is what President Buhari has promised to do
that henceforth all monies must go to the
Federation Account. What you need, you budget
for. Nigeria cannot continue with you-earn-the-
money-and-spend it. Where is transparency?
Where is the role of the National Assembly?”
“So, if you were doing that you won’t have a
situation where the NNPC alone will spend N3.8
trillion and remit to the federal, states and local
governments N4.3 trillion which means NNPC is
taking about 47 per cent and that explains all the
leakages you are talking about.”
Oshiomhole went on: “Let us also be clear;
nobody says that parastatals should not spend
money but they must return to budgetting. There
is no major player, there is no major registered
private company that will spend money without a
budget. Even a private company you will have
your board of directors looking at your revenue,
total sales, your turnover, your personnel cost,
running cost, visible and invisible and you have
the budget for the year that is how every sensible
business runs.
“That is the way it was when President Buhari
was Minister of Petroleum, so we are not
reinventing the wheel; that is the way it used to
be and that is the way the constitution says it
should be.”
On the money spent by Dr. Okonjo-Iweala from
the Excess Crude Account, Oshiomhole said that
the Accountant General’s Office reported to NEC
that the balance in the account as at the end of
May was $2.1 billion instead of $4.1 billion left in
the account in November, 2014.
He said: “We looked at the numbers for the
Excess Crude Account, the last time the Minister
of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the
Economy reported to the Council and it is in the
minutes, she reported by November 2014, that we
had $4.1 billion but today the Accountant General
Office reported we have $2.0 billion, which means
the Honourable Minister spent $2.1billion without
authority of the NEC.
“And that money was not distributed to states it
was not paid to the three tiers of government.
This is why the NEC has set up a panel to look at
what accrued, what it was spent on, when and by
whom, so that Nigerians will have the full picture
of all the transactions as regards the much talked
about excess crude.”
Yari said NEC constituted a four-man panel to
examine the accounts.
He said: “The 58th NEC? received the briefing
from the director of funds where the state of the
economy has been discussed thoroughly. We have
gotten the report from the excess crude; what is
there and what is not there. And also the Council
got the briefing on the unremitted funds by
NNPC.
On that line, a four-man committee – Edo,
Gombe, Kaduna Akwa Ibom – was constituted to
go through the books of NNPC and Excess Crude
as well as the Federation Account.”
“The four-man committee will check the books of
NNPC, most especially the issue of excess crude
and what is not remitted into the Federation
Account.”
“The Federal Government, in conjunction with the
CBN, will look inwards to see how to support,
how much they will give to states especially in
the issue of outstanding salaries owed by the
states and even the Federal Government.” he said
El-Rufai disclosed that the Excess Crude Account
was started by former President Olusegun
Obasanjo around 2004-2005 as an administrative
arrangement to save for the rainy day.
He said: “And it was meant to have very clear
accountability, such that every state and local
government, in a particular state, knows their
balance in the Excess Crude Account, though you
can’t spend it but you know how much of it is
yours. That was the arrangement.
“And in those days, before we spend any money
from the Excess Crude Account, the federal and
states governments will meet and agree. That is
how we agreed to build the seven power stations
which is NIPP today; it was from Excess Crude
Account. And also met and agreed to build the
Lagos – Kano Standard Guage Rail Line from the
Excess Crude Account.
“But what we have seen, in the last few months
or years is that the Excess Crude Account was
operated unilaterally by the federal government;
drawings were made unilaterally without
consulting those that actually own the money
because the Excess Crude Account is 52 percent
owned by the Federal Government and 48 by the
states and Local Governments.
“So the decision of the NEC is to set up this
committee of four to look at the operations of the
Excess Crude Account and make recommendation
to council on its future.
“The other thing the committee will do is to look
at the operations of the Federation Account,
particularly the shortfall and again come back to
council with very clear recommendations as to
what to do.”
“We have not been given a time-frame but as you
can imagine state governments are under
pressure. Many of our state governments are
unable to pay salaries on time without recourse
to borrowing, so this is very important to us. This
is an all-governors committee, we wear the shoes
we know where it pinches. So, we are are going
to do this as quickly as possible.
“The next meeting of the council is on July 23rd,
we hope to complete our work and be in position
to report to council on that day. So, within the
next one month we will be done by God’s grace,”
El-Rufai said.

http://thenationonlineng.net/new/four-man-panel-to-probe-how-nnpc-blew-n3-8tr/

Na dem sabi..... Thief thief people

Following

We will spend the rest of this tenure probing without results.

When computers are they to do the paper work and receipts are they to certify payments and collections, what else does Buhari needs if not to sit up and start governance.

There are auditors and forensic experts na, call President Buhari na

Oya Probe

https://samueliyanu./2015/06/30/diary-of-a-regular-village-boy-part-2/

Click and read the funny story of how Bros Timmy ended up impregnating seven girls at once, all of them coming with their parents same day, this one na Gobe!!!

Read this first to see how it started, this young village boy can "lie for Africa"

https://samueliyanu./2015/06/30/diary-of-a-regular-village-boydiary-of-a-regular-village-boy/