By InvestAdvocate
Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE)- Samuel Ukura, the auditor-general of the Federation said on Monday that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) failed to remit $16 billion (N3.2 trillion) in revenues to the federal government in 2014, according to a Reuters report.
This is the same year Lamido Sanusi, the then central bank governor was suspended after making similar claims, the report affirmed.
The report says constitutionally, the NNPC must hand over its oil revenue – which makes up about 70 percent of total income – and money is then paid back based on a budget approved by the national assembly.
According to the report, Nigeria is going through its worst economic crisis for years due to dwindling crude prices. President Muhammadu Buhari has said mind-boggling amounts of oil money were stolen, leaving state coffers virtually empty when he came to power and deepening the crisis.
Ukura who presented his findings in a report to the national assembly said the findings were based on an “examination of NNPC mandates to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Domestic Crude Oil Sales and Reconciliation Statement of Technical Sub-committee of Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) meeting held in January 2014.
“Amount not remitted to FAAC was N3, 234,577,666,791.35,” the auditor-general said in his report,” the Reuters report quoted Ukura as saying.
The report says a spokesman at NNPC said he was unable to comment, according to the latest figures on OPEC’s website; Nigeria’s oil exports are worth about $77 billion a year.
Ukura, also said other government ministries and agencies had also failed to remit funds, taking the total money withheld to 3.3 trillion naira for 2014.
Gas export sales worth $346 million were stated to have been paid to the government but “no statements or documents were made available to confirm the receipts”, his report said, according to Reuters.
Sanusi, the former CBN’s governor was suspended in 2014, after accusing the NNPC of failing to pay $20 billion into government accounts between January 2012 and July 2013.
The report says, although the constitution requires NNPC to hand over its oil revenue, the act establishing the state oil company allows it to cover costs before remitting funds to the government.
