NNPC denies operating secret account, says fuel subsidy gulps N2.6tn

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) has not remitted any amount to the federation account since the beginning of this year as the company’s deduction for petrol subsidy rose to N2.565 trillion at the end of August 2022.

A new report by the NNPC revealed this even as the company denied any involvement in the operation of any secret bank account, stating that the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF) was aware of its financial transactions.

An analysis of NNPC’s monthly presentation to the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) at the weekend, further showed that the NNPCL has so far spent N2.565 trillion on the controversial subsidy this year.

Information from the FAAC meeting had earlier revealed that the money available for distribution among the three tiers of government for the month slumped by N280.948 billion to N673.137 billion when put aside the N954.085 shared in July.

Of the amount, the Federal Government received N259.641 billion; the states received N222.949 billion, while the local governments got N164.247 billion.

“The sum of N525,714,373,874.60 being federation account share was used to defray value shortfall/subsidy for the month,” the NNPCL stated in a document quoted by TheCable.

According to the national oil firm, in January, February, March, and April 2022, the petrol subsidy gulped N210.38 billion, N219.78 billion, N245.77 billion and N271.13 billion respectively.

Furthermore, in May, June, and July, the country spent N327.07 billion, N319.18 billion and N448.78 billion respectively before the hugest deduction of N525.71 billion in the latest instance.

The NNPCL also on Saturday said it was not involved in the operation of any secret bank account.

It said that the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF) was aware of its financial transactions.

In a thread on its verified Twitter handle last night, signed by the spokesman for the national oil company, Mr Garba Muhammad, the company explained that it was unaware of the existence of any such account.

The House of Representatives a few days ago said it was probing the structure and accountability of the joint venture businesses and Production Sharing Contracts (PSCs) of the NNPCL in the last 32 years.

The lawmakers had alleged that they had uncovered a secret account owned by the NNPCL allegedly in breach of due process.

The report stated that an official of the OAGF, Mr Chize Peters, disclosed to the Abubakar Fulata-led Adhoc committee probing the matter.

The committee was said to have directed the Group Chief Executive Officer of the NNPCL, Mele Kyari, to appear before it to offer explanations on the issue.

But in a series of tweets, the spokesman of NNPCL said, “The NNPCL, directly or through its upstream arm, the National Petroleum Investment Management Services (NAPIMS), does not operate secret accounts at all.

“The joint venture cash call accounts denominated in US Dollars and Nigerian Naira are all domiciled with the Central Bank of Nigeria in line with the Treasury Single Account (TSA) policy.

“The Joint Venture Cash Call (JVCC) NGN and USD accounts were created to cater for the funding of cash calls for the various Joint Ventures managed by NNPCL on behalf of the Federal Government,” the company said.

The statement added that the ‘Joint Venture Proceeds Accounts’ were opened for the individual JVs to implement the self-funding strategy which aims at making them be self-reliant.

“The Office of the Accountant-Gen. of the Federation (OAGF) is fully aware of the JVCC accounts as the OAGF regularly sanctions & approves the updates/change of signatories to the accounts.

The NNPCL has documents where these correspondences with the OAGF were acknowledged.

“The NNPC/NAPIMS books of accounts in respect of the federations upstream petroleum activities are audited annually by independent external auditors,” the national oil company said.

According to the NNPCL, a critical part of the independent statutory audit is sending ‘circularisation’ to banks to confirm balances and bank accounts belonging to NNPC/NAPIMS.

It stressed that Audited Financial Statements (AFS) are submitted to all stakeholders including the National Assembly.

In addition, the company stated that the OAGF conducts periodic (yearly) checks on the activities of NNPC/NAPIMS, maintaining that the activities of the NNPCL and NAPIMS are audited yearly by the Nigerian Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (NEITI).

“NNPCL has documented evidence of the correspondences between the company and the OAGF before the accounts were opened with the @cenbank, in line with the Treasury Single Account (TSA) policy.

“We also have evidence of reconciliations carried out with the @cenbank for the year ended 31-12-2021 in respect to the JV Cash Call Accounts.

“Thus, with such multiple layers of checks and balances, it is impossible for @nnpclimited to operate secret accounts until the ad hoc Committee, with due respect to its competencies, discovers it.

“If such ‘secret account’ does exist, then @nnpclimited certainly is not aware of, and has absolutely nothing to do with it,” the statement concluded.