NNPC Debunks Claims Of N142.7 Billion Debt To Federal Government

[ChannelsTV]

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has called the bluff of the Chairman of the House Committee on Finance, Abdulmumin Jibrin, over his insistence that it owes the Federal Government the sum of N142.7 billion in unremitted internally generated revenues, explaining that it has not made any profit in its operations since 2009 from which it should pay 80 percent into the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federal Government as mandated by the Fiscal Responsibility Act.

The Group Managing Director of the Corporation, Andrew Yakubu The Group Managing Director of the Corporation, Andrew Yakubu, made this clarification on Tuesday at a press conference held at the NNPC Towers where he accused Mr Jibrin of carrying out a smear campaign against the Corporation.

The GMD who was represented by the General Manager, Media Relations, Omar Farouk Ibrahim explained that he had clarified the issue of internally generated revenue by the corporation before Mr Jibrin and his Committee in early February when he stated that the Corporation was running at a loss as a result of operational constraints such as demurrage, price regulation of petroleum products, pipeline vandalism and crude oil theft.

"At that meeting, it was agreed that the Committee would get the Office of the Accountant General to raise a team along with some members of the Committee within seven days to look at the Corporation's books and we promised to cooperate. It should be noted that one week after that meeting, no one visited us at the NNPC," he explained, adding that the team that was eventually set up had met only once and was yet to conclude its work when Mr Jibrin went to town with his phantom figures.

He explained that the figures that Mr Jibrin relied on for his conclusion did not have the accounts of NNPC Corporate Headquarters where a bulk of the losses recorded by the Corporation reside factored into it and that the team was supposed to incorporate that into its report before the next meeting when Jibrin jumped the gun to announce figures that had not been reconciled.

He assured Nigerians that NNPC would continue to strive to live up to its mandate as contained in the Act establishing it.

Via: ChannelsTV

[Shola Sholaz]

This debt news should just reduce once and for all. It has to happen