N8 Trillion Oil Fraud: CBN Neither Confirms Nor Denies Jonathan's Connection
Central Bank Governor, Lamido Sanusi
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) declared it would neither confirm nor deny a scandalous letter sent to President Jonathan by Lamido Sanusi, in which a shocking revelation has been made that the Nigeria National Petroleum Resources has between 2012 and 2013 failed to remit nearly $50 billion into the Federation Account.
Ugochukwu
Okoroafor, the Director of Corporate Communications, CBN, said in a
statement on December 12, 2013, Thursday that any discussion of the
alleged letter to be inappropriate.
The CBN offered 10 “clarifications.”
Among
them, the it stressed that in the performance of its, role it is
natural for the CBN to be concerned at the low level of accretion to
reserves and the Excess Crude Account, despite strong international oil
prices, especially as Nigeria's performance is compared with other
oil-producing economies.
This
amounts to a reiteration of the bank governor’s reason for writing the
letter to President Jonathan in the first place, and that the NNPC
stands guilty as charged.
The CBN also took the opportunity to restate its support of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB).
It
would be recalled that SaharaReporters reported on December 9, 2013
that in the letter, which CBN Governor Sanusi Lamido Sanusi
hand-delivered to President Jonathan in September, he lamented the
continuing failure of the NNPC to honor its legal obligations to the
country, including failure to remit $49.8 billion to the Federation
Account between 2012 and 2013, representing 76% of the value of crude
oil liftings during that period.
“Our analysis of the value of crude oil export proceeds based on the documentation received from pre-shipment inspectors shows that between January 2012 and July 2013, NNPC lifted 594,024,107 barrels of crude valued at $65,332,350,514.57.Out of this amount, NNPC repatriated only $15,528,410,098.77 representing 24% of the value. This means the NNPC is yet to account for, and repatriate to the Federation Account, an amount in excess of $49.804 billion of the value of oil lifted in the same period,” the alleged letter said.
Full text of the press statement by the CBN below [unedited]:
CENTRAL BANK OF NIGERIA
The
attention of the Central Bank of Nigeria has been drawn to an emerging
public discourse around a letter purportedly written by the
Governor to His Excellency the President of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan,
GCFR, expressing concerns over non-remittance of oil revenues by the
Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
The
Central Bank of Nigeria will neither confirm nor deny the
existence of such a letter and considers any discussion by it on
the alleged letter to be inappropriate.
However,
to the extent that the matter is gathering momentum in the public
space, and seems to be assuming a highly politicized dimension, the
Bank wishes to issue the following clarifications:
1.
The CBN is statutorily mandated to establish price stability,
protect the external value of our national currency, manage the
external reserves of the Federation and ensure the smooth
functioning of our financial system, as well as adviser to
the President on economic matters.
2.
The capacity of the Bank to perform its role effectively is
strengthened or undermined by the extent to which the nation is
able to increase foreign exchange earnings and savings
from these earnings, thus boosting the Excess Crude Savings
Account, raising reserve levels, providing currency stability and
moderating interest rates with limited risks to inflation and
financial stability.
3.
In the performance of this role it is natural for the CBN to be
concerned at the low level of accretion to reserves and the Excess
Crude Account, inspite of strong international oil prices, especially
as Nigeria's performance is compared with other oil producing
economies.
4.
The Central Bank of Nigeria is aware that this concern is
shared by Mr. President, the Federal Ministry of
Finance, Ministers, State Governors, legislators, economists, analysts
and all stakeholders involved in managing the economy and discussions
on how to address the matter are being held at highest levels
of Government.
5.
The CBN is aware that, on the instruction of the Honourable
Minister of Petroleum Resources, the audit firm, PWC has been
directed to audit the revenues of the NNPC.
6.
The CBN is also aware of a proposal to set up a technical team
made up of representatives the Federal Ministry of Finance, the NNPC
and the CBN to examine the sources of any revenue leakages and
propose appropriate fiscal controls.
7.
The CBN welcomes these initiatives and believes that they represent a
positive contribution to the process of improving the management of
the economy, especially if they lead to greater oversight
of the Finance Ministry over oil revenues and improvements
in disclosure and transparency in the Oil Industry.
8.
The Central Bank of Nigeria recognizes that there is an
urgent need to review fiscal terms of sharing revenues between
the Federal Government and oil companies and to improve governance
and transparency in the official oil sector. This underscores the
need to urgently pass a Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) that
addresses fiscal terms and the structure of the NNPC. We
therefore support the effort of the Federal Government to pass a
new PIB.
9.
The CBN will continue to use appropriate channels of communication in
these matters and hereby assures all stakeholders in the country,
of its continued support in all efforts aimed at strengthening the
Nigerian economy and reducing its vulnerability to shocks from
the external sector.
10.
The Central Bank of Nigeria will not issue further statements on
this matter and urges the general public to avoid unnecessary
politicization of a technical matter while awaiting the outcome of
on-going consultation and reviews.
Ugochukwu Okoroafor,
Director, Corporate CommunicationsREAD MORE: http://news.naij.com/54176.html