FG Sets Up Committee To Investigate NNPC Accounts

.….. probes missing $2.1bn Excess Crude Funds and N3.8trn Unremitted NNPC funds

President Muhammadu Buhari has approved a comprehensive probe into the operations of the nation’s Excess Crude Accounts and the alleged financial malfeasance in the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

Specifically, the government is investigating alleged withdrawal of $2.1 billion from the Excess Crude Account by the former President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration and the N3.8 trillion unremitted into the government coffers between 2012 and 2015.

Buhari after inaugurating the maiden National Economic Council (NEC) left his Vice, Professor Yemi Osinbajo to chair the body and it was resolved that a committee comprising four governors be set up to “look at the proper management of the ECA/Federation Accounts and report back recommendations to the council.”

Governors on board of the panel were those of Edo, Gombe, Kafuna and Akwa-Ibom states.

Briefing newsmen after the NEC meeting yesterday, Edo state governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, with his Kaduna, Gombe and Akwa-Ibom counterparts, disclosed that the management of the NNPC and the office of the Accountant General of the Federation (AGF) were compelled by the President to render accounts to the Council on issues pertaining to the total sale of the nation’s crude from 2012 and 2015.

He said, “We are talking about transparency, we are talking about change. And what we saw from those numbers, I believe that Nigerians are entitled to know, is that whereas the NNPC claimed to have earned N8.1 trillion, what NNPC paid into the federation account from 2012 to May 2015 was N4.3 trillion.

“What it means is that NNPC withheld and spent N3.8 trillion. The major revelation here is that the entire federation: the federal government, the states and all the 774 local governments, the amount the NNPC paid into the federation account for distribution to this three tiers of government came to N4.3 trillion and NNPC alone took and spent N3.8 trillion. Which means the cost of running NNPC is much more than the cost of running the Federal Government. That tells you how much is missing, what is mismanaged, what is stolen, there are huge figures.”

Oshiomhole pointed out that it is only in Nigeria that a government concern would generate and spend money without passing the rigour of appropriation by the National Assembly.

“If the federal government cannot spend without appropriation, why should any agency spend without cooperation. NIMASA for example whatever they earned they are supposed to pay into federation account and also present the budget of their requirements. This is what the constitution provided for. And this is what President Buhari has promised to do that henceforth all monies must go to the federation account. What you need you budget for. Nigeria cannot continue with you earn the money and spend it. Where is transparency? Where is the role of the National Assembly? So if you were doing that you won’t have a situation where the NNPC alone will spend N3.8 trillion and remit to the federal, states and local governments N4.3 trillion which means NNPC is taking about 47 per cent and that explains all the leakages you are talking about,” he explained.

On the balance in the Excess Crude Account, Oshiomhole said “We looked at the numbers for the Excess crude account, the last time the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, reported to the Council and it is in the minute, she reported by by November 2014, that we had $4.1 billion but today the Accountant General Office reported we have $2.0 billion. Which means she spent $2.1billion without authority of the NEC. And that money was not distributed to states, it was not paid to the three tiers of government. This is why the NEC has set up a panel to look at what accrued, what was it spent for, when and by whom. So that Nigerians will have the full picture of all the transactions as regards the much talked about Excess crude.”

Giving an explanation for the reason for the operation of the Excess Crude Account by former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Kaduna state governor, Nasir el-Rufa’i, said “The Excess Crude was started by President Olusegun Obasanjo around 2004-2005. I was part of the decision that led to the creation the Excess Crude Account. It was administrative arrangement to save for a rainy day. And it was meant to have very clear accountability such that every state and local government, in a particular state knows their balance in the Excess Crude Account, though you can’t spend it but you know how much of it is yours. That was the arrangement.

“And in those days, before we spend any money from the Excess Crude Account, the federal and states governments will meet and agree. That is how we agreed to build the seven power stations which is NIPP today, it was from Excess Crude Account. And also met and agreed to build the Lagos – Kano Standard Gauge Rail Line from the Excess Crude Account. But what we have seen, in the last few months or years is that the ‎Excess Crude Account was operated unilaterally by the federal government, drawings were made unilaterally without consulting those that actually own the money because the Excess Crude Account is 52 percent owned by the federal government and 48 by the states and LGA,” he alleged.