By Alltimepost.com
Benin City (Nigeria) — The Managements of the Nigeria National Petroleum Company (NNPC), Total, Mobil, Shell and other companies mentioned by the 2013 audit of the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) to have refused to remit revenues totaling over $4.4bn to the federation account have been called upon to comply without further delays.
The Africa Network for Environment and Economic Justice (ANEEJ) in a press statement, reacting to the recently released 2013 NEITI Audit reports signed by its Executive Director, the Rev. David Ugolor made the call in Benin on Tuesday.
The organization was shocked that the Nigeria National Petroleum Company which collects revenues from the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) Company did not remit $12.9bn collected since 2009 into the federation account.
“The NEITI audit report has thrown up an urgent need for the Inter Ministerial Task Team to move quickly to support the NEITI Secretariat to ensure that all the infractions identified in the audit are resolved particularly now that we are faced with resource problem to finance budget 2016.”
“The NEITI Audit report is a revelation of the level of impunity which the pre-Buhari NNPC and Multi-national oil companies had for the Nigerian people and their common resources. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and other Anti-Corruption agencies should swing into action immediately to trace and recover every cent of the fortunes revealed to have been kept away from the federation account,” ANEEJ demanded.
“These funds are urgently needed to develop the country which is currently in a critical state of underdevelopment and widespread poverty,” it added.
ANEEJ equally was worried that the sums of $5.966b and N20.4 billion revenue of the federation were lost to Offshore Processing Agreement, crude oil swap, and crude theft, and called on the Group Managing Director of the NNPC to take urgent steps to end all forms of crude oil swaps in the country to ensure that all Offshore Processing Agreements meet international best practice.
“We wish to call on the National Assembly and the Presidency to initiate a legislative reform through the urgent passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), as this will help to fast-track reforms in the oil and gas sectors of the nation’s economy.”
ANEEJ equally note the absence of a transparent metering regime in the oil and gas sector in Nigeria, saying: “the NEITI report flags this once again the way it does in previous NEITI audits provides an opportunity for different interpretations of data which makes it difficult to validate figures on quantity of oil and gas production in the country.”
The organization therefore called on President Muhammadu Buhari to take action to reverse the ugly situation.
“The audit also revealed the processing of a whopping N1.3 trillion as subsidy payments to the NNPC and Independent marketers. This in our view reinforces the need for all Nigerians to support the complete removal of fuel subsidy as announced by the federal government,” the organization said.
ANEEJ further called on the NNPC, Department of Petroleum Resources, FIRS, Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation, and the CBN to prioritize fixing remedial issues identified in their operations by the NEITI Audit
“Given the delays in the release of the report, we wish to call on the federal government and development partners supporting NEITI to increase funding to NEITI secretariat to enable the board and management bring all audits of NEITI up to date.”
