Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, (NEITI) has taken the lid off what it described as the various ways through which oil and gas revenue are lost to unauthorised pockets.
The agency revealed this at the fag-off of a public debate in Abuja that such areas include: underpaid royalty and taxes; non-remittance by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) of what it received from sale of domestic crude; underpayment to the Niger Delta Development Commission, (NDDC) by the oil companies and poor record keeping by NDDC in relation to its receipts from the oil companies.
Unfolding this at the public forum on behalf of NEITI, it’s Chairman on the National Stakeholders Working Group, NSWG, Prof. Assisi Asobie added that other areas to include: differences in lifted volumes of crude between the terminal operators and the companies making the lifting, and poor record-keeping by the regulators.
The agency revealed this at the fag-off of a public debate in Abuja that such areas include: underpaid royalty and taxes; non-remittance by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) of what it received from sale of domestic crude; underpayment to the Niger Delta Development Commission, (NDDC) by the oil companies and poor record keeping by NDDC in relation to its receipts from the oil companies.
Unfolding this at the public forum on behalf of NEITI, it’s Chairman on the National Stakeholders Working Group, NSWG, Prof. Assisi Asobie added that other areas to include: differences in lifted volumes of crude between the terminal operators and the companies making the lifting, and poor record-keeping by the regulators.
Noting that the amounts involved in some of these areas of “possible loss” were very significant, Prof. Asobie put the possible shortfall in the payments of royalty and petroleum profit tax resulting from anomaly in the interpretation and application of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) clauses and the clauses of the relevant laws at a whopping US$242.9 million and US309.9 million respectively.
“The companies estimated that the NNPC owed the Federation Account the sum of N654 billion; NNPC claims it owed N651.583 billion, but added that the sum of N222.387 billion was being withheld as part of subsidy payments due to it from the Federal Government,” he said.
He added that the auditors were right in asking the NNPC to first pay what is owing before demanding payment for what it is owed, stressing “It should also pay N3.242 billion over and above the total sum that the NNPC claimed to be owing the federation account.”
He added that the auditors were right in asking the NNPC to first pay what is owing before demanding payment for what it is owed, stressing “It should also pay N3.242 billion over and above the total sum that the NNPC claimed to be owing the federation account.”
According to Asobie, recoverable revenue which is due to the NDDC arising from underpayment by companies is in the neighbourhood of US$50.6 million and N1.222 million from companies in 2005.
Discussion about this post