REVEALED

REVEALED: “In three

years, NNPC generated

N8.1 trn, gave Nigeria

N4.3 trn, pocketed the

balance”

The Nigerian National

Petroleum Corporation,

NNPC, generated about

N8.1trillion between 2012

and May 2015, but paid only

N4.3trillion to the federation

account, Edo State governor,

Adams Oshiomhole, said

Monday, citing new details

from the federal economic

council meeting.

The balance of the oil money

— about N3.8trillion — was

withheld and spent by the

NNPC unilaterally without

approval or National

Assembly appropriation, the

governor told journalists.

Also, the governor confirmed

at the meeting that from

November 2014, about

$2.1billion was withdrawn

from the excess crude

account without the approval

of the National Economic

Council, NEC.

Mr. Oshiomhole, who,

alongside the governors of

Kaduna state governor, Nasir

El-Rufai, and Zamfara

governor, Abdulazeez Yari,

briefed journalists, said

following the discovery, the

NEC has set up a four-

member committee to comb

the books of the NNPC to

confirm its remittances and

how the excess crude account

was utilised.

President Muhammadu

Buhari dissolved the board of

the NNPC on Friday, to pave

way for full investigation of

the corporation.

Mr. Oshiomhole said

Monday’s meeting was the

first time the NNPC and the

office of the Accountant

General of the Federation,

briefed the National

Economic Council, as directed

by President Muhammadu

Buhari.

The governor said Mr. Buhari

“compelled” the NNPC to

provide information in

“black and white” on issues

relating to the total sales of

Nigeria’s crude oil from 2012

to May 2015.

“This has never happened

before and for us this is

profound. We are talking

about transparency, we are

talking about change. And what we saw

from those numbers I believe that

Nigerians are entitled to know, is that

whereas the NNPC claimed to have

earned N8.1 trillion, what NNPC paid

into the federation account from 2012 to

May 2015 was N4.3trillion.

“What it means is that NNPC withheld

and spent N3.8 trillion.

“The major revelation here is that for the

entire federation — that is the federal

government, the states and all the 774

local governments — the amount the

NNPC paid into the federation account

for distribution to this three tiers of

government came to N4.3 trillion and

NNPC alone took and spent N3.8 trillion.

Which means the cost of running NNPC

is much more than the cost of running

the Federal Government. That tells you

how much is missing, what is

mismanaged, what is stolen, they are

huge figures.”

He said it had become clear that the

NNPC had not respected the Constitution

on how government money should be

spent.

“If NNPC needs to spend money, it is

obliged to prepare its budget like every

other business

enterprise. That budget will be

scrutinized by the executive and

forwarded to the National Assembly and

the National Assembly will accordingly

appropriate it.

“If the federal government cannot spend

without appropriation, why should any

agency spend without appropriation?”

Mr. Oshiomhole said President Buhari

promised that henceforth, all monies

must go to the federation account.

“What you need you budget for, Nigeria

cannot continue with you earn the

money and spend it. Where is

transparency? Where is the role of the

National Assembly? So if you were doing

that you won’t have a situation where

the NNPC alone will spend N3.8 trillion

and remit to the federal, states and local

governments N4.3 trillion which means

NNPC is taking about 47 per cent and

that explains all the leakages you are

talking about.”

He said parastatals must return to

spending on a budget.

“We are not reinventing the wheel, that

is the way it used to be and that is the

way the constitution says it should”

EXCESS CRUDE ACCOUNT

The Edo governor also disclosed $2.1

billion was withdrawn from $4.1 billion

reported to be in the excess crude

account as at November 2014 without

the approval of the National Economic

Council (NEC). The account now has

$2.0bilion.

“We looked at the numbers for the

Excess crude account, the last time the

Minister of Finance and Coordinating

Minister of the Economy reported to the

Council and it is in the minute, she

reported by November 2014, that we had

$4.1 billion.

“But today the Accountant General

Office reported we have $2.0 billion.

Which means the Honourable Minister

spent $2.1billion without authority of

the NEC. And that money was not

distributed to states, it was not paid to

the three tiers of government. This is

why the NEC has set up a panel to look

at what accrued, what it was spent for,

when and by whom. So that Nigerians

will have the full picture of all the

transactions as regards the much talked

about Excess crude,” Mr. Oshiomhole

said.

The four-member committee, which

consists of the governors of Edo, Gombe,

Kaduna and Akwa Ibom states.

Explaining further, Kaduna State

Governor, Mr. El-Rufai, noted that the

Federal Government had in the last year

been unilaterally withdrawing from the

excess crude account without consulting

the other owners.

According to him “The Excess Crude

account was started by President

Olusegun Obasanjo around

2004-2005.

“It was an administrative arrangement

to save for a rainy day. And it was

meant to have very clear accountability

such that every state and local

government, in a particular state knows

their balance in the Excess Crude

Account, though you can’t spend it but

you know how much of it is yours.

“That was the arrangement. And in

those days, before we spend any money

from the Excess Crude Account, the

federal and states governments will meet

and agree. That is how we agreed to

build the seven power stations which is

NIPP today, it was from Excess Crude

Account. And we also met and agreed to

build the Lagos – Kano Standard Gauge

Rail Line from the Excess Crude Account.

“But what we have seen, in the last few

months or years is that the Excess Crude

Account was operated unilaterally by the

federal government, drawings were

made unilaterally without consulting

those that actually own the money

because the Excess Crude Account is 52

percent owned by the federal

government and 48 by the states and

LGA.

“So the decision of the NEC is to set up

this committee of four to look at the

operations of the Excess Crude Account

and make recommendations to council

on its future.

“The other thing the committee will do is

to look at the operations of the

federation accounts particularly the

shortfall and again come back to council

with very clear recommendations as to

what to do.

“We have not been given a time frame

but as you can imagine states

government are under pressure, many of

our state governments are unable to pay

salaries on time without recourse to

borrowing, so this is very important to

us. This is an all governors committee,

we wear the shoes we know where it

pinches. So we are going to do this as

quickly as possible,” he said.

The Council’s next meeting of the council

is on July 23rd, and Mr. El- Rufai said he

hopes the committee will complete its

work and be in position to report to

council on that day.

Zamfara governor, Abdulazeez Yari, said

the council also agreed that the Federal

Government in conjunction with the

Central Bank, will see how to support

financially ailing states.