Oil companies operating in Nigeria owe
the Federal Government over $7bn (N1.38tn), the Nigerian Extractive
Industries Transparency Initiative has said.
NEITI also stated that the restructuring
at the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation was part of its
recommendations to the past government, but this was ignored.
The agency said it welcomed President
Muhammadu Buhari’s decision to set up a Presidential Committee on
anti-corruption led by Prof. Itse Sagay, SAN.
It described the committee as a good
platform for all the 21 anti-corruption agencies, coordinated by the
Technical Unit on Governance and Anti-Corruption under the chairmanship
of NEITI, to share information and offer informed advice based on
experiences over the years.
The
agency, in a statement issued by the Director of Communications, Dr.
Ogbonnaya Orji, said, “One important issue that NEITI will be bringing
to the table if given opportunity is how the committee can assist the
government to recover over $7bn owed by oil companies.”
It said the amount was arrived at after
the agency computed cases of underpayments, under assessment’s arising
from subjective interpretation of MoUs and tax laws.
It said it had no doubt that its contributions would add value to the work of the committee.
“It is our expectation that Prof.
Sagay’s committee will provide NEITI and all the agencies under the
Inter-Agency Task Team an opportunity to make presentations,” it said.
The agency said the stance by Buhari to
restructure the management and administrative organs of the NNPC would
inspire hope and confidence.
It said, “The measures are also
consistent with the findings and recommendations of NEITI in its various
independent audit reports. These reports were ignored in the past.
“We are therefore delighted that the
much-needed political will required to boldly implement the NEITI
recommended reforms is now provided, available and accessible under the
leadership of President Muhamadu Buhari.”
It said the appointment of Dr. Emmanuel
Kachikwu as the Group Managing Director of the NNPC was already evident
in the ongoing dismantling of the unwieldy structure of the corporation
that made it impossible in the past for it to respond to increasing
public demands for reforms.
It urged the NNPC GMD to consider it a
priority to carefully study the findings and recommendations outlined in
NEITI’s independent reports on the sector.
It said, “Among these recommendations
are the issue of inadequate metering infrastructure for accurate
measurement of crude, the onerous Joint Venture cash call regime,
inefficient cost determination, urgent resolution and review of pricing
issues related to expired MoUs and legal agreements with oil companies
that have huge revenue loss implications for the nation.
“Others are huge costs of fuel subsidy,
crude oil swap and products exchange agreements, repair of the
refineries, oil theft, review of existing fiscal regime in the industry,
automation of record keeping, and the politics of acquisition and
assignments of oil blocks by discretion etc. NEITI is ready and willing
to provide further details if required.”
It said the recent pronouncement of
Kachikwu on remittances of all NLNG dividends directly to the Federation
Account as required by law was demanded by all NEITI reports.
The agency explained that by
implementation of this remedial issue alone, a total of $11.6bn that was
paid by NLNG to NNPC but not remitted by the NNPC to the Federation
Account, could be recovered into government coffers.
NEITI endorsed the directive on operation of a single treasury account system directed by President Buhari.
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