Recover $7.5bn from oil firms, NEITI tells Buhari

 

The Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to consider the recovery of over $7.5bn (N1.4trn) from oil and gas companies operating in Nigeria as a major priority in his economic policy agenda expected to be unfolded very soon.

The agency, in a statement on Tuesday night, said the amount represented clear cases of underpayments, under-assessments of taxes, royalties, rents revealed by NEITI in its several independent audit reports, which had not been adequately addressed in the past.

The statement quoted the Executive Secretary, NEITI, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, to have made the call in Abuja at an Oil and Gas Conference to articulate an agenda for the administration in support of the  proposed oil and gas industry reforms.

She explained that at a time when the new administration was in dire need of funds to tackle complex problems facing the nation, recovery of the funds should be pursued vigorously with all political will and seriousness it deserves.

Ahmed gave the assurance that NEITI was ready and willing to provide every information and data to assist the government to recover the funds. 

She also disclosed that a total of $11.6bn, which represents outstanding total dividends arising from loans and interest repayments from Federal Government’s investment in Liquefied Natural Gas, also needed to be recovered into government purse.

She said, “Our 2012 Audit Report discovered that total dividend loans and interest repayment from LNG paid to the NNPC in 2012 was $2.8bn, however in the course of NEITI’s Audit NNPC was unable to provide any evidence to provide that the funds were remitted to the federation as required by law.

ADVERTISEMENT

“The total amount received by NNPC from LNG under the same circumstances which have not been remitted to the federation account stands at $11.6bn.”

Ahmed also used the forum to call for full investigation into the transfer of eight oil wells, sold by NNPC to the Nigeria Petroleum Development Company, in 2010 and 2011.