In the report - titled Unremitted Funds, Economic Recovery, and Oil Sector Reform, released on Tuesday, April 4, 2017, the total unremitted funds due to the federal government from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC) stood at about N7.2 trillion.
An amount N0.1 trillion (one hundred billion naira) less total federal government proposed expenditure for 2017.
“The findings from various audits exercise of the oil and gas sector showed that the NNPC and its upstream subsidiary, NPDC, failed to remit $21.778 billion and N316.074 billion to the federation account”, NEITI stated during the report presentation on Tuesday, April 4, 2017.
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The report also noted that these amounts are due from three main sources, federal government assets divested to NPDC and NPDC’s legacy liabilities; payment for domestic crude allocation to NNPC; and dividends from investment in Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) company paid to the government but was withheld by the NNPC.
NEITI noted that recovery of these funds will significantly enhance government’s fiscal position in the short term.
The body observed that operations of government agency have been largely non-transparent in most of its commercial decisions. Also, accountability and lack of sound economic judgement were also noted across various transactions of the corporation and its subsidiaries.
These actions were noted as gross violations of the constitution provisions requiring remittance of government revenue to the federation account and international best practices in the extractive industry.
