NNPC To Refund N6.3trn Unremitted IGR To FG

ABUJA, February 13, (THEWILL) - The House of Representatives, Wednesday, directed the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to refund to the Federal Government  N6.3 trillion being the amount accruing from unremitted internally generated revenue between 2009 and 2012.

Chairman of the House Committee on Finance, Abdulmumin Jibrin, who issued the order at an investigative session with the management of NNPC,  said the corporation realised N2 trillion in 2009, N2.1 trillion in 2010, N1.9 trillion in 2011 and as at July 2012, it generated N259billion as internally generated revenue.

He directed the NNPC to give express access to the Accountant General of the Federation (AGF) to scrutinise its records on internally generated revenue (IGR) from 2009 to 2012.
 
Jibrin said the action of the NNPC violated the provisions of the Fiscal Responsibility  Act, 2007, adding that it was unacceptable for the NNPC to claim that it has been operating at a loss despite being protected by the government.

"Operating at a loss is not an issue, you generated some money and the law is clear on what belongs to you and to the others. But you chose to ignore it and refused to remit to  the Federal Government its dues."

He gave the corporation up till February 25  to report back after the AGF might have checked its records for the period under review.

Defending the NNPC, the Group Managing Director, Andrew Yakubu, explained that the reason for the non-remittance was because the organisation has been operating at a loss.

He said the corporation was operating on its own account but forced by circumstances to operate in a challenging business environment.

"For instance, we have to buy crude at commercial rates but have to sell at regulated prices, as such it is difficult to generate profit and that is why we have difficulties in remitting to the CRF.

"Also, the cost of generating that IGR is more than the IGR because we spend more to produce the products from where we generate the profits as we incur additional cost to produce those products.

"Also, we lost nothing less than N600 million  per week to vandalism, and that is also beyond our control," he said.

Besides, he regretted that  the issue of subsidy was contributory to the inability of the corporation to meet up with its CRF obligations,saying  "With this, there is no business that can generate profit in such a hostile environment."

Yakubu, who noted that  as the supplier of last resort, the position of the corporation became more dicey as it was left as the only supplier of petrol while the fuel subsidy crisis lasted last year.