Federal Government has commenced probe into
activities of its agencies over remittance of revenue
into the Federation Account
This was disclosed yesterday at the meeting of the
National Economic Council, NEC, by the Governor of
the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Godwin Emefiele.
Emefiele told the Council how some Federal
Government agencies short changed the country by
remitting naira into the Federation Account instead of the dollar revenue they collected.
Briefing State House correspondents at the
Presidential Villa after the meeting, Cross River State
Governor, Ben Ayade said Emefiele presented brief
report on government agencies involved in the
inappropriate remittance.
According to Ayade, the agencies include Nigerian
National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, Nigerian
Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA, and Nigerian Port Authority, NPA, among other agencies.
The Governor was in company of three other
colleagues, including Aminu Tambuwal (Sokoto),
Darius Ishaku (Taraba) and Olusegun Mimiko (Ondo).
Ayade said: “We received a brief report on how
agencies remiting dollar revenues in naira into the
Federation account given by the CBN governor.
“He said investigations are on-going. Such agencies
include but not limited to NNPC, NIMASA and NPA.”
Ayade also said NEC received briefing on the excess
crude account which stands at $2.2bn as at
yesterday.
He added: “On the provision of provisional loans to
states based on collaterisation of the excess crude
account, the CBN governor briefed that 27 states
have made request for the N10bn facility and is
currently being processed. “He has called on the
affected states to complete all necessary
documentation for the money. Not all states have
indicated interest on this ECA collaterised loan.
“On the refund of expenses incurred by state
government, the Vice President also briefed Council
on detail of this and said that for all those who have
followed the right procedure and due process in
incurring expenses, processes are being undertaken
at this time to ensure refund for such Federal
Government based road expenditure by states.”
Mimiko explained that the bailout funds from the
Federal Government would not be enough for
payment of workers’ salaries because of the
continued shortfall in revenue accruing to the
Federation Account.
He said: “Bail out is a short term measure on arrears of salaries. But the truth is that the accruals would still not be enough and final solution to the accruals shortfall in the payment of salaries still has to be found.” The governors assured that the bailout fund would not be diverted but would be judiciously used.
Meanwhile, NNPC yesterday conducted the public
opening of bids tendered by 101 Nigerian and multi-
national companies competing for the award of
Offshore Processing Arrangements, OPA.
According to a statement by the Group General
Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Ohi Alegbe,
in the OPA, NNPC undertakes to allocate a dedicated
volume of crude oil for refining at offshore locations
in exchange for petroleum products at pre-agreed
yield pattern.
The exercise, which was said to have been broadcast live on national television and conducted in the full glare of representatives of Nigerian Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative, NEITI, executives of the bidding companies and other crucial oil and gas industry stakeholders comes as a swift departure from the previous OPA award exercises which were conducted without public participation.
The statement quoted the Group Managing Director
of NNPC, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, to have noted that the
Corporation has taken the pain to make the process
leading up to the award open to public scrutiny to
demonstrate before all members of the public that
there was nothing to hide.
“At the end of this exercise, we must be able to
engage companies that are known to everybody and
not shrouded in mysteries. We must have terms that
are very transparent and comparative to terms
anywhere else in the world where OPA are being
done,” Kachikwu said.
He said while efforts were being made to ensure that refineries were re-streamed to optimal levels, NNPC would in the interim maximise the OPA in such a way as to secure the best deals possible for Nigeria.
“I hope that we should be able to build in futuristic
growth patterns in the new deal. We should be able
to come up with companies that have solid
investments in Nigeria because this is not just a
trading issue,’’ he said.
Commenting on the exercise, Mrs. Murjanatu
Gamawa, representative of NEITI commended NNPC
for the giant step taken towards transparency and
accountability. Managing Director, Pipelines and
Products Marketing Company Limited, PPMC a
subsidiary of the NNPC, Mrs. Esther Nnamdi-Ogbue,
stated that the essence of the exercise was to provide a level playing field for all industry players and to cut-off middle men who have been exploiting the system.
Mrs. Gamawa observed that this was the first time
NEITI would be invited to witness a bid process at the NNPC, noting that it was a clear indication that the Corporation takes transparency and integrity issues seriously.
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