$12 Billion missing as Sanusi exposes NNPC lapses

A crucial meeting between key government offices concerning the Central Bank of Nigeria declaration that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has failed to remit to the Federation Account the sum of $49.8 billion between 2012 and 2013 has concluded that only about $10.8 billion appears to be unaccounted for.

That figure was referred to only as a “shortfall” in domestic crude oil receipts.

In a “summary of findings” issued after the meeting, which lasted until 2a.m,” the group said the $10.8 billion “shortfall” was acknowledged by NNPC but that the corporation at the same time disputed its magnitude.

“This shortfall has been acknowledged by NNPC, but the magnitude of the shortfall is still disputed by NNPC. The shortfall is explained to be the result of subsidy claims, unrecovered crude/product losses, and cost of strategic petroleum storage (which is currently not captured in the PPPRA template for refunds). This figure is also well-known to all stakeholders at the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC), and is reported and updated on a monthly basis. However, all parties concerned are working assiduously through the ongoing reconciliation efforts to resolve this.”

A source at the meeting told Sahara Reporters that the overriding reason the institutions resolved that not to drag the issue further is because the NNPC and the Minister of Petroleum Resources managed to“convince” those at the meeting that the monies had somehow been remitted.

The NNPC, meanwhile, admitted at the meeting that Nigeria’s earnings from crude oil exports over the period in question were $67.12 billion: $1.79 billion higher than the revenues reported by the CBN.

The discrepancies leaked through a letter written to President Goodluck Jonathan by CBN Governor, Sanusi Lamido, which was first published by Sahara Reporters. Since the letter leaked to the media, Sanusi has been put under immense pressure by President Goodluck Jonathan and the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Allison-Madueke.

Our source said that despite the bogus accounting undertaken by the NNPC, the agency could still not account for as much as $12 billion from proceeds of crude oil lifted and sold on behalf of Nigeria.