NNPCL denies not making remittances to federation account

– To publish audited financial statement soon

Mkpoikana Udoma

Port Harcourt — The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPC Ltd. has denied not making remittances to the federation account, saying that the company was not holding back any public funds.

The denial is not unconnected to the directive by President Bola Tinubu for the Central Bank of Nigeria to take over the responsibility for crude oil sales from NNPC Ltd, as the nation’s oil company would henceforth submit receipts for crude oil sales to CBN for vetting and documentation.

The Group Chief Executive Officer of NNPC Ltd., Mr Mele Kyari, frowned that the Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, NEITI, had accused the company of not making remittances, instead of seeking clarification on any perceived gap in its assessment.

Kyari in a statement signed by the Chief Corporate Communications Officer, NNPC Ltd. Mr Olufemi Soneye, explained that what NEITI reported as non-remittance was what was due to NNPC Ltd as payment for taking the burden of fuel subsidy on behalf of the Federal Government.

He said NNPC Ltd. would have released its Audited Financial Statement, AFS for 2022 since June 2023, but could not do so because it had no substantive Board of Directors at that time, adding that the AFS will be published on the company’s website in the next few days.

The statement said Kyari made the clarification during a visit by the Deputy Executive Director, Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, Mr Bady Baldé, to the NNPC Ltd in Abuja.

Accoridng to the statement, Baldé whose visit was to communicate EITI’s findings in its recent global assessment, said NNPC Ltd. fared very well among companies in the same category, as only Equinox of Norway fared better than NNPC Ltd. in the assessment.

The statement quoted Baldé of saying that compliance with global EITI standards will help boost the company’s credibility, as there was still room for NNPC Ltd. to improve.