NEITI Report: We Are Working to Reconcile Areas of Discrepancies, Says NNPC

•Insists it was owed N4.2tn, while it owed federation N2.8tn

Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja and Peter Uzoho in Lagos

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) yesterday, said it was working with the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) and all relevant stakeholders to resolve the areas of disagreement in the 2021 report released by the initiative.

A statement by the Chief Corporate Communications Officer, NNPC, Olufemi Soneye, said the NNPC would work closely with the Reconciliation Committee set up by President Bola Tinubu to investigate, review and reconcile the financial records on alleged indebtedness to the Federation by both NNPC and the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC).

The response came against the backdrop of calls by a non-governmental organisation for a probe of several monies allegedly owed the federation by the national oil company.

“NNPC Ltd states that the claims by the NGO were baseless, considering the fact that NEITI itself had dismissed many of the allegations in the said 2021 report, following a series of engagements with NNPC Ltd.

“NNPC Ltd states that at the outset of President Bola Tinubu’s administration, it was made to sell Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) imported into the country at one third of its value, a development that gave rise to an average of N400 billion monthly subsidy bill, which subsequently put a strain on its revenues and finances.

“NNPC Ltd further states that that subsidy bill accumulated to up to N3.736 trillion as of May 31st 2023,” it stated.

With respect to gas-to-power debts, the non-payment of NNPC share of upstream joint venture gas supplied to the government-owned plants, Soneye said, had led to the accumulation of indebtedness of N174.07 billion by the federation.

Similarly, the NNPC noted that the receivables due from the federation to NNPC Exploration & Production Limited (NEPL) as of 31st May 2023 amounted to $712 million (equivalent to N309.07 billion at N434.08/US$1) for revenues not remitted to NEPL but paid into the federation account.

“While the federation owed NNPC the sum of N4.207 trillion as net indebtedness, the company was only indebted to the federation in the sum of N2.852 trillion, made up mainly of outstanding Good and Valuable Consideration (GVC) in respect of government upstream divestments, royalties and Petroleum Profit taxes (PPT),” the NNPC spokesman said.

The NNPC also used the opportunity to clarify that over the years, its relationship with NEITI had been very cordial, as seen in August 2020, when it became an EITI supporting company.

At the time, it said that it joined a group of over 65 extractives companies, state-owned enterprises (SOEs), commodity traders, financial institutions and industry partners committed to observing the EITI’s supporting company expectations.

“Indeed, aside being a signatory to several EITI’s global ethics and standards, NNPC Ltd had on the sidelines of the United Nation’s General Assembly (UNGA) in Washington DC, in September this year, signed up to the United Nations Global Compact on human rights, labour, environment, and anti-corruption, thereby becoming the first state-owned oil company to join the global initiative.

“NNPC Ltd’s book remains open to all our stakeholders as we remain committed to delivering value to Nigerians with integrity and as espoused in our principles of Transparency, Accountability and Performance Excellence (TAPE), the bulwark of the Mele Kyari leadership of the company,” it added.