Confusion as NEITI insists no evidence of remitting $15.8bn NLNG dividend by NNPC
Contrary to claims by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) that it has completed the remittance of $15.8bn dividend payment from Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG), the industry accounting watchdog, NEITI has refuted the claims, saying there is no evidence for such claims.
Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) on Thursday in Abuja said it had no evidence to show that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation remitted the $15.8bn dividend it received from the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas company to the Federation Account.
In a terse statement in Abuja, the Director of Communications at the agency, Dr. Ogbonnaya Orji, said “From the presentation, the NLNG paid the dividends to NNPC but NEITI has no evidence that the NNPC remitted the funds to the Federation Account.”Trouble had started midway into its explanations of facts and figures it presented to the House of Representatives Ad Hoc Committee during a recent public hearing on the alleged $17bn undeclared crude oil and liquefied natural gas exports.
NEITI at the hearing averred that the NNPC received the funds on behalf of Nigeria, but failed to remit it to the Federation Account.
The watchdog also noted the unremitted NLNG dividend and loan repayments as a major source of revenue loss to the federation and explained that the NNPC, as custodian of the country’s shares in the NLNG, received her share of the dividends for 15 years amounting to $15.8bn between 2000 and 2014.
It further alleged that the NNPC failed to remit the proceeds to either the Federation Account or the Federal Government.
