The Presidency over the weekend got a
request – it should probe the whereabouts of
about $4billion taxes and dividends paid by
the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG)
Ltd.
The payments include Income tax, Education
tax and dividends.
NLNG Managing Director Babs Omotowa told
The Nation last week that the company had
paid over $30 billion to its shareholders in the
past 10 years.
Into which account were the funds paid? The
All Progressives Congress (APC) urged
President Muhammadu Buhari to launch a
probe.
Nigeria, with a 49 per cent stake, is the single
largest shareholder in the money-spinning
company, which contributed $1.6 billion to
the Federal Government’s multi-billion
package for the states.
Relying on facts and figures, the APC claimed
that of the $4,728,136,946 paid as dividends
by the NLNG between 2009 and 2014, only
$127,851,348.19 made it to the Federal
Government’s Independent Account with JP
Morgan.
It said the Buhari administration should tell
Nigerians the whereabouts of the balance of
over $4 billion.
Explaining the NLGN role in the “bailout”
cash, Omotowa said the $1.6 billion was the
Income Tax and Education Tax the company
paid to the Federal Government through the
Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) for the
2014 financial year.
But the APC, through its National Publicity
Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, called on the
Federal Government to urgently unravel what
happened to the past dividends paid to it.
Mohammed said the probe became necessary
following published reports that such
remittances were never lodged into the
Federation Account as required.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), through
its spokeman, Olisah Metuh, claimed that the
“bailout” cash, which will help states to pay
salaries from the savings left behind by the
administration of former President Goodluck
Jonathan.
Metuh, who counselled President Buhari to
take a cue from his predecessor by saving for
the rainy day, also claimed that NLNG’s
dividend stood at $5.6 billion, when Dr.
Jonathan left office on May 29.
Mohammed accused the PDP of
grandstanding and standing logic on its head.
In a statement issued in Lagos yesterday,
Mohammed described as a glaring example of
grandstanding opposition the attempt by the
PDP to distort the facts about the source of
the $2.1 billion that was approved for sharing
by the three tiers of government by the
President.
The statement reads: “Whereas the
Presidency corrected the initial erroneous
report that the shared money was sourced
from the Excess Crude Account (ECA), the
skittish opposition continued to insist it was
from the ECA and that it was part of the
‘savings’ by the Jonathan Administration.
“Well, we can tell Nigerians that the $2.1
billion was sourced from the $1.6 billion
Company Income Tax/Education Tax paid to
the Federal Government on June 17, 2015,
over two weeks after the Jonathan
Administration left office, as well as the $500
million tax paid by Shell.
“We can tell Nigerians that this is the first
time the payment of the Income Tax/
Education Tax by the NLNG was being
disclosed by any government, in addition to
paying it into the Federation Account for
sharing, hence those who call it their
‘legitimate’ earnings should be asked why
they did not demand the sharing of such
‘legitimate’ earnings in the past.
“We can tell Nigerians that apart from the
said $1.6 billion NLNG payment for 2015,
NLNG also paid $1.4 billion as Income Tax/
Education Tax in May 2014, paid $0.3 billion
as Education tax to the Federal Government
in 2011, 2012 and 2013 and $1.2 billion in
VAT and With-holding Tax to the Federal
Government since 2009. These payments are
just those made in the past six years alone,
hence there were other payments before then.
“In addition, dividend payments totalling
$4,728,136,946 were paid to the Federal
Government between 2004 and 2009, out of
which only $127,851,348.19 was credited to
the Federal Government’s Independent
Account with JP Morgan, leaving a balance of
over $4 billion.
“The questions to ask therefore are why all
the past taxes and dividends were neither
fully paid into the Federation Account nor
shared by the three tiers of government and
what happened to the funds.”
The APC said the probe must be carried out
in the light of President Buhari’s directive that
all funds due to the Federal Government must
be paid to the Federation Account as part of
ways to plug financial leakages.
The statement went on: “In an effort to
restore transparency to the system, it is
important to let Nigerians know why all due
funds were not paid into the Federation
Account in the past and what happened to
such funds.
“The party also said that as part of the
investigation, the PDP must be asked where
it kept the $5.5 billion which it said was the
dividend paid to the Federal Government by
the NLNG before the 29 May handover.
‘’Since, according to the PDP, President
Goodluck Jonathan asked that the money be
‘left for the incoming administration to
manage’, it is important for the party,
therefore, to tell Nigerians in which account
the money was ‘saved’ because it is definitely
not in the Federation Account.”
Insisting that an opposition must not only be
factual and truthful but ‘eschew pandering to
be credible’, the APC said: “Had the PDP
embraced these cardinal principles, it would
not have, in the rush to belittle the package
that was approved for the states by President
Buhari and to discredit his administration,
engaged in outright lies and selective
perception.
“While the PDP became fixated on the source
of the money shared by the states, it forgot
that there were other measures in the
package that included a special intervention
fund of between N250 billion and N300 billion
from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) as a
soft loan available to states to access for the
purposes of paying backlog of salaries.
“The PDP also forgot the debt relief
programme designed to assist the states to
restructure their commercial loans of N660
billion, with a view to extending the life span
of such loans and reducing the states’ debt-
servicing expenditures.
“That way, the states are freed from their
perennial inability to pay workers’ salaries,
and more funds are available to the various
governments to use for the benefit of the
people.
“They have forgotten that the only time in the
country’s history that this kind of rescue
package was made was also during the
tenure of Muhammadu Buhari as military
Head of State.”
The APC advised those who are showboating
and distorting facts to tarry a while, as what
they have seen was just a tip of the iceberg in
a long journey to clear the rot left behind by
“the rudderless administration of Dr.
Jonathan”.
“The revelations concerning the deep rot in
the system that will come in the weeks and
months ahead will shock even the most
ardent critics of the Buhari Administration’s
salvaging efforts,” the party said.
The Nation
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