NEC Sets Up Committee To Investigate NNPC Accounts

The National Economic Council (NEC) has set up a committee to investigate a shortfall of N3.5 trillion in remitting by Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) into the Federation Account since 2012.

This is coming after a briefing by a Director of Funds in the Office of the Accountant General on the status and management of the Federation Account, which indicted NNPC of remitting only N4.3 trillion out of its earnings, estimated at N8.1 trillion within the same period

Briefing State House correspondents after NEC meeting chaired by Vice Presi‎dent Yemi Osinbajo, Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole, who briefed alongside his counterparts from Kaduna, Zamfara and Akwa Ibom States, explained that the committee is to look into the missing N3.5 trillion and report back to the council at its next meeting on the whereabouts of the fund.

Members of the committee, who are to report back to the council on the 23rd of July when the council is to reconvene, are governors of Kaduna, Nasir Elrufai, Edo, Adams Oshiomhole, Akwa Ibom, Emmanuel Udom and Gombe’s Ibrahim Dankwabo

Oshiomhole added that the council will also look at the Excess Crude Account and report back on the rationale to which it would continue operation or done away with at the next sitting of the council in July.

Another issue that would also be looked into according to the Edo State governor is the differences between what former Finance Minister, Ngozi Okonjo Iweala, declared as the balance in the Excess Crude Account and what this administration met in the account.

Oshiomhole stated that while Okonjo-Iweala, had claimed that the past administration left 4.1 billion dollars in the account, only 2.0 billion US dollars was found in it by the owners of the account; the three tiers of the government.

He stressed that there was the need to look into the account to see who authorised withdrawals from the account and what had necessitated such withdrawals.

Buhari Promises Faster Action On Completion Of Hydro-Power Projects

President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday reaffirmed his administration’s will to give the highest possible priority to the rapid improvement of power supply across Nigeria.

Speaking at an audience with officials of CGGC, the Chinese Construction Company working on the Mambilla Power Project in Abuja, President Buhari said that it was quite regrettable that power generation in Nigeria had failed to keep pace with national needs over the years.

The President said that his administration will therefore ensure that the Mambilla project and other unfinished hydro-power projects in the country are completed expeditiously to boost power supply in the country.

“I am very much interested in Mambilla and other hydro-power projects, not only for the improvement of power but also for irrigation as both power and irrigation projects will help to improve the lives of Nigerians.
“I am going to ask for details of the Mambilla Hydro-Power Project and others. Very soon, we will get together and redefine the project agreements for faster results,’’ President Buhari said.

The Managing Director of CGGC, Mr. Zhang Heng, who led his company’s delegation, told the President that work on the Mambilla project was being delayed by the failure of previous administrations to provide the counterpart funding specified in the agreement with the Chinese government.

The CGGC delegation was accompanied to the Presidential Villa by Governor Abdulaziz Yari of Zamfara State.

Nigeria's bond yields rise, naira falls on Foreign Exchange curbs

 

The cost of borrowing for Nigeria rose on Monday and the naira currency weakened again in the wake of the central bank's new foreign exchange rules to conserve scarce reserves, traders said.


Investors had hoped for a sustained rally after smooth elections in March eased uncertainties about political risk in Africa's biggest economy. But worries over the government's finances and the continued slide in the naira have hit markets.

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The naira traded at 226 to the dollar on the parallel market, down 2.7 percent since Wednesday when the central bank introduced rules to stop importers from sourcing dollars on the interbank market to buy a range of items.

"The fact that the forex controls introduced by the central bank have contributed to a wider gap between the official and parallel exchange markets is not surprising and should add upward pressure on inflation moving forward," said Cobus de Hart at South Africa's NKC African Economics.
On the interbank market, the currency, which is pegged to the central bank's rate of 196.90, was at 198.90 naira.

The most liquid 5-year bond yield rose 12 basis points to 14.71 percent, up from 14.31 percent the day before the bank unveiled the currency rules but below 15.5 percent on the eve of the presidential election in March.

The 10-year benchmark yield rose 10 basis points to 14.25 percent on Monday, up from 13.75 percent before the central bank measures and below 15.38 percent on March 27.

Frustration as customers besiege banks over BVN deadline

Residents of Kubwa, Bwari Area Council of the FCT have continued to besiege banks in the area to meet up with the June 30 deadline expiration date of the registration of the Bank Verification Number (BVN) by the Central Bank of Nigeria.

Most of the banks visited by our reporter were flooded by customers, who trooped to the banks in their numbers to get registered.

While some complained that they were asked to wait as the registration forms had been exhausted, others who said they had earlier registered said they were yet to receive their numbers via SMS as promised.

One of the residents, Adeola Mercy, said she was in the bank as early as 7.45a.m. for the exercise, but was surprised to meet people already queued up waiting for the bank to open for the day’s business.
“I left my house as early as 7:30a.m. thinking I would be one of the first to be attended to. But up to this time (after 11a.m.), we are yet to be attended to,” she lamented.
Ekene Ugochukwu said he was not ready to wait for the 2p.m. they said the forms would be issued to them, saying he had other important engagements to catch up with.

A staff in one of the banks, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said they had enough forms contrary to the notions of some customers, explaining that they were asked to wait till 3p.m. in order to attend to the ones that had earlier been issued out.

He, however, blamed the customers for waiting till the dying minutes before they could come for the exercise.

Buhari sacks NNPC board

President Muhammadu Buhari has dissolved the board of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) with immediate effect.

The directive to that effect was conveyed in a letter signed today 26th June 2015 by the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Barr.Danladi Kifasi, himself a member of the old board constituted by former President Goodluck Jonathan in 2012.

The old board had nine members, with former petroleum minister, Diezani Alison-Madueke as chairman.
Other members were the Group managing director of NNPC, former Head of Service, Mr. Steven Oronsaye, Professor Olusegun Okunnu, Arc. Daniel Wadzani, Mr. Bernard O.N. Otti (Group Executive Director, Finance & Accounts), Dr. Peter S. Nmadu (Group Executive Director, Corporate services.

Nigerians call for discontinuation of fuel subsidy payment

 

A cross section of Nigerians on Wednesday urged the Federal Government to discontinue its subsidy payment policy to marketers importing fuel.

The respondents said in Lagos that removal of petroleum subsidy would be good for Nigeria’s prosperity.

The Director, Centre for Bee Research and Development, Bidemi Ojelewe, said that the controversy about the fuel subsidy payments was demoralising to the populace.

He said the country’s economy would rapidly develop and prosper if normalcy reigned over subsidy payments to marketers.

"Removal of fuel subsidy is inevitable if our government wish to meet the pressing anticipation of the masses,’’ he said.

Prof. Michael Akur, who lectures at the Department of Political Science, University of Jos, said: "The discontinuance of subsidy on fuel consumption will reduce the inflationary pressures our economy is facing.

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NNPC yet to remit $1.48bn into Federation Account –FG

Four Months after former President Goodluch Jonathan directed the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation to refund $1.48bn (N291.56bn) into the Federation Account, the corporation has yet to do so.

An international audit firm, PricewaterhouseCoopers, was last year hired to carry out a forensic audit of the corporation following an allegation by the former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Lamido Sanusi, that $49bn was not remitted to the Federation Account by the NNPC.

Sanusi, who is now the Emir of Kano, had written a letter to Jonathan that the amount was not remitted to the Federation Account by the NNPC.

But following the controversy, which the letter generated, a committee was set up to reconcile the account.

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Sanusi later recanted and said the unremitted fund was $12bn. He again changed the figure to $20bn.

PwC had stated in its report that while the total gross revenues generated from crude oil lifting was $69.34bn between January 2012 and July 2013 and not $67bn as earlier stated by the Senate Reconciliation Committee, what was remitted to the Federation Account was $50.81bn and not $47bn.

Within the $69.34bn, the audit report revealed that $28.22bn was the value of the domestic crude oil allocated to the NNPC, adding that the total amount spent on subsidy for Premium Motor Spirit amounted to $5.32bn.

But speaking on Tuesday shortly after this month’s Federation Account Allocation Committee meeting, the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Finance, Mrs. Anastacia Nwaobia, said no amount had been refunded as directed by Jonathan.

She said, “On refund from the NNPC, that was not discussed but you can see that from the breakdown, we have a refund of what we have been expecting from the NNPC to the Federal Government. We had a refund of about N6.33bn.

“The refund that you are asking about, maybe it is a fallout of the forensic audit; that has not been done. The forensic audit is still being considered and I am sure that when a decision is taken, it will be communicated and you will have that information.”

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