The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) Limited has said it is working  with the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) and other key stakeholders in the reconciliation committee set up by President Bola  Tinubu to investigate, review and reconcile the financial records on alleged indebtedness to the Federation by both NNPC Limited and the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC).

This was disclosed by the Chief Corporate Communications Officer of NNPC Limited, Olufemi  Soneye, in a statement.

Recall that a civil rights group, Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), had  filed a lawsuit against Tinubu over what it described as his “failure to probe the grim allegations” that over $15 billion oil revenues, and N200 billion budgeted to repair the refineries in Nigeria are missing and unaccounted for between 2020 and 2021.

The allegations were made  in NEITI’s 2021 report.

In the suit number FHC/L/CS/2334/2023 filed last Friday at the Federal High Court in Lagos, SERAP is seeking an order of mandamus to direct and compel the president to probe the allegations.

But according to NNPC Limited, several of the allegations made in the report had been dismissed by NEITI following engagement with the national oil firm.

The statement read partly: “NNPC Ltd. states that the claims by the NGO were baseless, considering the fact that NEITI itself had dismissed many of the allegations in the said 2021 report, following a series of engagements with NNPC Ltd.

“NNPC Ltd. states that at the outset of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration, it was made to sell Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) imported into the country at one-third of its value, a development that gave rise to an average of N400 billion monthly subsidy bill, which subsequently put a strain on its revenues and finances.

“NNPC Ltd. further states, “that subsidy bill accumulated to up to N3.736 trillion as of May 31st, 2023.”

“With respect to gas-to-power debts, the non-payment of NNPC Ltd.’s share of upstream joint venture gas supplied to the government-owned plants led to the accumulation of indebtedness of N174.07 billion by the Federation.

“Similarly, the receivables due from the federation to NNPC Exploration & Production Limited (NEPL) as of 31st May 2023 amount to $712 million (equivalent to N309.07 billion at N434.08/US$1) for revenues not remitted to NEPL but paid into the Federation account.

“While the Federation owed NNPC Ltd. the sum of N4.207 trillion as net indebtedness, the Company was only indebted to the Federation in the sum of N2.852 trillion, made up mainly of outstanding Good and Valuable Consideration (GVC) in respect of government upstream divestments, royalties, and Petroleum Profit taxes (PPT).

“We would also like to use this opportunity to clarify that over the years, our relationship with NEITI has been very cordial, as seen in August 2020 when we became an EITI supporting company, joining a group of over 65 extractive companies, state-owned enterprises (SOEs), commodity traders, financial institutions and industry partners committed to observing the EITI’s supporting company expectations.

“Indeed, aside from being a signatory to several of EITI’s global ethics and standards, NNPC Ltd., on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York in September this year, signed up to the United Nations Global Compact on human rights, labour, environment, and anti-corruption, thereby becoming the first state-owned oil company to join the global initiative.

“NNPC Ltd.’s book remains open to all our stakeholders as we remain committed to delivering value to Nigerians with integrity and as espoused in our principles of Transparency, Accountability and Performance Excellence (TAPE), the bulwark of the Mele Kyari leadership of the company.”