The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) and some other agencies failed to remit N7.8 trillion ($9.85 billion) in revenue to Nigeria’s Federal government in the space of one year.
This was disclosed by the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) in a report released in Abuja yesterday.
According to NEITI’s 2021 Oil and Gas Industry Report, which examined the operations of 69 businesses, Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG), 13 government agencies, and one state-owned company, NNPCL, unremitted funds made up 8.47% of the $23 billion in total revenue the federal government generated during the year under consideration.
NNPCL could not account for $1.951 billion of the revenue it generated for the federal government in 2021, according to NEITI.
The names of the other defaulting agencies were not specifically mentioned in the report.
There were $871.145 million in unremitted domestic oil sales, $286.423 million in unremitted export crude sales, $859.583 million in unremitted miscellaneous revenue, $24.332 million in unremitted transportation revenue, and $45.758 million in unremitted domestic gas sales, according to the report.
The report also revealed that there were $871.145 million in unremitted domestic oil sales, $286.423 million in unremitted export crude sales, $859.583 million in unremitted miscellaneous revenue, $24.332 million in unremitted transportation revenue, and $45.758 million in unremitted domestic gas revenues.
The data further showed that the NNPCL incurred expenses of $6.931 billion over the one-year period.
Only $13.2 billion, or 57.27 percent of total revenue, was remitted into the federation account, the NEITI stated.
Despite the NNPCL investing over N200 billion in refinery rehabilitation between 2020 and 2021, the research noted that none of the four refineries in the nation were in operation in 2021.
According to the research, Nigeria lost 22,735 barrels, or 3.72 million litres, of crude oil in 2021, with 410 occurrences being reported. This indicates a 22% increase in incidents when compared to 2020, when 384 incidents totalling 18,563 barrels (three million litres) were reported.
NNPCL’s Chief of Compliance, Nasir Usman, said the company had operated with transparency and accountability over the years.
Speaking on behalf of the Group Chief Executive Officer of NNPCL, Mele Kyari, Usman said the report gave a comprehensive insight into the activities of the extractive industry and the management manner of Nigeria’s national resources.
He said “NEITI report promotes open accountable board. The need to ensure transparency in the management and utilisation of our natural resources is vital to promote accountability and bring socio-economic benefits to the citizens of this country.
“This has become even more critical today in view of recent happenings across the world, which has compelled a global shift of focus on natural resources. There are demands in some quarters to re-engineer the international monetary system and introduce resource-backed currency for international transactions.
“The NEITI process supports national stakeholders in promoting good governance in the extractive sector. NNPC is, therefore, committed to working with NEITI to promote collaboration in multi-stakeholder group, enhance mainstreaming of data that will be used to conduct further analysis, including creating avenues for discourse to strengthen the extractive sector governance.”
According to Usman, it is everyone’s responsibility “To ensure the nation derives optimum benefits of financial resources and to ensure the benefits are shared to all citizens in the most transparent, equitable and fair manner.”
The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Petroleum Upstream, Eteng Williams, nudged NEITI to continue its effort towards Nigeria’s revenue mobilisation “now that subsidy is gone.”