NNPC denies ₦20bn corruption allegation in Ogun state

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPC, has refuted claims by an online platform that it paid the sum of ₦20 billion to ghost consultants and was involved in the theft of multi-billion naira tax due to the Ogun state government.

In a statement released by its Chief Corporate Communications Officer, Garba Muhammad, the NNPC stated that it was disappointed by the allegations and does not deal with ghost consultants.

"At NNPC Ltd, the process of engaging consultants whenever the need arises is clear and verifiable and follow global best practices.

“It is therefore unfortunate that for whatever reason, the said online platform would make such a grievous allegation, mindless of the consequences of such actions. The claim of a missing N20bn is absolutely false and baseless,” it added.

Regarding the Ogun State Government's claim of a back duty tax liability of about ₦18 billion against an NNPC subsidiary, the Petroleum Products Marketing Company, PPMC, Ltd, Muhammad clarified that PPMC had challenged the claim through its tax consultant. The matter is currently before the court, and the NNPC will prove its case accordingly.

The NNPC advised the online publication to be mindful of the consequences of its actions before reporting on matters already in court, as it could lead to subjudice conclusions.

The company demanded that the online platform retract the publication immediately and verify facts before publishing such reports.

It was reported that the Ogun state government has dragged the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited to court over immense corruption allegations.

According to a report by SaharaReporters, the brief summary of facts, reads, “The application against the Respondent is in connection with its statutory responsibility to deduct and remit deductions from its Ogun State resident Employees to Ogun State Revenue Service and is predicated on an allegation of under deduction and under remittance of taxes for years 1999-2020.

“The Applicant relies on four notices of Assessment dated 4 of November, 2021 and 26 April,2022 for ₦1,042,142,147,804.80; ₦1,595,688,650.06; ₦872,753,586.09 and ₦15,116,469,168.34 were served on the Respondent in respect of its tax liability for 1999-2020.

“In all, a total of ₦18,857,497,691.62 was claimed by the Applicant vide its letter of 10th of August, 2022 which also gave a 7 days notice of intention to apply to Court for an Order to levy a distress for non-payment."

According to the report, a staff memeber disclosed that over ₦20 billion was stolen under the pretext of paying ghost consultants they hired.