The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) said it met its financial obligations to the Federation Account last year by remitting N1.26 trillion as against the N1.22 trillion projected in the 2018 budget, recording a surplus of N41billion.
The Managing Director, NNPC Capital, Mr. Godwin Okonkwo, disclosed this during a presentation to the House of Representatives Ad Hoc Committee on the Investigation of the Non-Remittances of Funds to the Federation Account by the corporation between July 2017 and December 2018 at the National Assembly Complex in Abuja.
A statement by NNPC explained that Okonkwo represented Group Managing Director of the Corporation, Dr. Maikanti Baru. It said though 2.3million barrels per day (mbpd) was proposed in the 2018 budget, national daily production for the period under review oscillated between 1.9mbpd to 1.89mbpd.
Baru listed the two sources of inflows into the Federation Account from the NNPC to include equity crude oil sales less cost of recovery from the Joint Venture cash call arrears and domestic crude less cost recovery, adding that the JV cash call arrears were being efficiently managed now to ensure steady inflows to the Federation Account.
Baru said: “The current management of NNPC ensures that it contributes to the cost of the production of crude oil and gas in the upstream sector to avoid a repeat of the mistakes of the past. If we had made cash call payments in the past, the arrears that we are liquidating now would not have arisen. The current situation creates a win-win scenario for the country. The NNPC is strategically saving for the rainy day to make a better future for all of us by liquidating the arrears.”
He noted that the corporation on a regular and sustained basis balanced up with the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) and the JV cash calls in order to make sure that the future generations do not suffer from the legacy debt. He dismissed the allegations of Commissioners of Finance of under-remittances by the Corporation, adding that the NNPC was a going concern that met financial obligations to its various stakeholders.
