NNPC received N4.9trn on subsidy in 9 years - Maikanti tells Senate
- Isiaka Abdulrazak, NNPC chief finance officer says all NNPC’s subsidy claims and entitlements are duly verified and approved
- Abdulrazak states that NNPC is still being owed N170.6bn, despite a total of N5.1tr which was duly approved
- The group managing director of NNPC, Maikanti Baru, claims that the fuel scarcity is sustained by smugglers and syndicates
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has said that it received over N4.9 trillion as subsidy payment on Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), known as petrol between 2006 and 2015.
Isiaka Abdulrazak, NNPC chief finance officer, revealed this on Monday, January 29, at public hearing organised in Abuja by the Senate committee on petroleum (downstream).
According to Channels Television's report, the group managing director of NNPC, Maikanti Baru, led senior officials of the corporation at the high-profile and investigative hearing.
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The NNPC officials were summoned by the lawmakers amid the persisting fuel scarcity in the country and the controversy over the payment of fuel subsidy.
Briefing the senators on the issue, Abdulrazak said subsidy payments were duly approved by the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA).
He said: “All NNPC’s subsidy claims and entitlements are duly verified and approved by PPPRA with relevant certificates issued.”
“The subsidy approved for NNPC is backed out of Domestic Crude Cost payable to Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC).”
With respect to the essence of the payment, the NNPC official explained that subsidy is a duly authorised reimbursable amount from Petroleum Support Fund (PSF) to compensate for products supplied at the government regulated price.
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However, Abdulrazak informed the panel that while a total of N5.1tr was duly approved by PPPRA as subsidy claims for the corporation, NNPC is still being owed N170.6bn.
Abdulrazak went ahead to seek the understanding of members of the committee on the peculiarity of NNPC operations, and its function as a supplier of last resort in the downstream sector of the economy.
Despite the purported payment of fuel subsidy, Nigerians have continued to experience constraints in getting the product with long queues at filling stations.
On Wednesday, January 24, Baru had decried the sustained unfortunate activities of fuel smuggling syndicates and hoarders across the nation.
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While addressing a Joint National Assembly Committee on Petroleum (Downstream), Maikanti noted that fuel supply and distribution matrix across the country have been hindered by such activities.
In its consideration of the prolonged fuel crisis in the nation, the Senate issued a directive to the NNPC to end fuel queues in seven days from January 25.
Earlier, Legit.ng reported that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) on Monday, January 29, in Abuja revealed that the Nigerian federation was indebted to the corporation to the tune of N170.6 billion outstanding subsidy payments due from January 2006 to December, 2015.
Leading a team of top management of the NNPC to the ongoing investigative hearing on N5 trillion subsidy payments from 2006 to 2016, the group managing director of the corporation, Maikanti Baru, said the figure was arrived at after deduction of N4.950.80 trillion received as payments from the N5.121.40 trillion approved subsidy claims of the corporation from January 2006 to December 2015.
Former NNPC group managing director Andrew Yakubu in court over fraud allegations on Legit.ng TV
Source: Legit.ng
