IN the wake of allegations leveled against it, ranging from non-remittance of a N3.8 trillion revenue from January 2012 to May 2015 constituting 48 per cent of total income for the period to withholding of dividends from the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG), the country’s giant oil corporation has clarified that there was no iota of truth in the claims, saying they are all borne out of a denial of the reality of dwindling petroleum earnings arising from the global fall in prices.

In a position paper that it presented at a recent meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari, the embattled Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) contended that contrary to the general impression that it “spent the balance of N3.8 trillion (after remitting the sum of N4.65 trillion into the Federation Account) on its operations, the truth is that a bulk of that amount was unrealized revenue owing to the fuel subsidy regime which is a Federal Government policy.”

In the document, the corporation stated that the N3.8tn was not remitted because it was unrealized revenue and likened it to a situation where an agency like the Customs Service could not meet its revenue generation target because of duty waivers granted by the Federal Government to some companies on a certain category of goods.



“When petrol and kerosene are imported at say N130 and N140 per litre respectively and the subsidy regime dictates that they be sold at N87 and N50 per litre respectively, the balance of N43 and N110 per litre that is lost (not realized) over the period of review is what makes up a bulk of the N3.8tn that was allegedly not remitted and which Nigerians are being made to believe was willfully withheld by NNPC and ignorantly referred to as operation expense by NNPC,” the document explained.

Putting the losses or unrealised revenue incurred from petroleum subsidy in the period under review at 2.14tn, the Corporation further explained that crude oil and products losses as a result of theft and pipeline vandalism also constitute another stream of unrealized revenue amounting to a total of N250.2bn.

“It is grossly erroneous for people to think that pipeline vandalism and its twin evils of crude and products theft do not have any implication on what accrues to the Federation Account at the end of the day, but unfortunately, that appears to be the thinking,” the document stated

www.today.ng/news/nnpc-denies-withholding-national-revenue/

Cc ishilove