Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) has given the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) one month within which to perfect an acceptable repayment plan for the controversial N450 billion it allegedly owed the federation account. Speaking to journalists after the monthly meeting of the committee in Abuja, Chairman, Commissioners of Finance Forum, Usman Rebo warned that concrete actions will be taken against the corporation if it refused to present members of the committee with tangible repayment proposal by next month. He said members are particularly nervous that the debt has assumed a thorny issue over time with no solution yet in sight, even a as he failed to disclose what specific measures it intends to take against the corporation. "We have resolved to extend our last ultimatum by another one month for NNPC to come up with a repayment schedule. After that, the whole nation will hear from us, because it is an issue we cannot just sweep under the carpet" adding that "very soon, the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) will be passed into law and when that happens, it will become more difficult for FAAC to track that money", Rebo said The two agencies had disagreed over the debt when NNPC disclosed that it was equally being owed about N1.3trillion by the federal government. The government however, disputes this claims although the audit report is expected to shed more light on that. The audit report according to the Minister of State for Finance, Yawaba Lawan-Wabi will “soon be accomplished as the report was currently being "analysed by the appropriate authorities, pending a formal publication".
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