Missing N8trn: YES, WE DO OWE Federation Account – NNPC
Corporate Headquarters NNPC Towers, Central Business District, Herbert Macaulay Way, Garki, Abuja
Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) admitted it owes the Federation Account. This was revealed by Chairman, Finance Commissioners Forum in Ebonyi State, Timothy Odah, who briefed the press in Abuja on the outcome of Friday's monthly Federal Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) meeting.
At the meeting, the NNPC representative admitted the fact that the organisation owed the federation by not remitting the exact amount it generated.
Recently, PREMIUM TIMES had revealed governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Lamido Sanusi, sent a memo to President Goodluck Jonathan, accusing the NNPC of failing to remit $49.8 billion to the Federation Account between 2012 and 2013.
In their initial response, the NNPC had accused Mr. Sanusi of "ignorance" with his allegations.
Mr. Odah, however, said the actual amount of its indebtedness would be determined at the next FAAC
meeting.
"The NNPC has admitted that truly they owe the Federation Account and by that information, we referred the deliberation on the figure of what they say they owe to the next FAAC meeting," the Chairman said.
"This is so that the technical committee will be able to examine NNPC accounts before we will be able to publicise or accept the figure they have quoted."
The NNPC's acknowledgment is "important," Mr. Odah said, and described it as a welcome development.
"You know previously that it has always been a matter of controversy.
"They say they don't owe and sometimes they will say that it is the federation account that owes them, but this time they have accepted that they owe.
"Although, the difference between what we claim they owe and what they claim they owe, is very marginal," he said.
Mr. Odah also said the FAAC technical sub-committee would begin to work on measures to further scrutinise remittances by the NNPC in order to avoid such occurrences in future.
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