Onwuka Nzeshi
6 July 2009
Abuja — The whereabouts of the $4.44 billion dividends which accrued to the Federal Government in respect of its investments in the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) Project is now a subject of disagreement between the House of Representatives and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
The controversy arose as a result of the investigation by the House Ad hoc Committee into the activities of the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), NNPC and its subsidiaries.
THISDAY learnt that conflicting records were said to have been presented to the investigators by the NNPC, the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation and the Budget Office of the Federation domiciled at the Federal Ministry of Finance.
According to the official records of the NNPC, a total of $4,443,936,946 was paid to the Federal Government through the NNPC as dividends from NLNG between June 2004 and April 2009. The money was said to have been received by the NNPC in its capacity as the representative of the Federal Government in the Joint Venture NLNG project in which Shell Gas, Total and ENI International (Agip) are also shareholders.
In a letter dated May 28, 2009, the NNPC acknowledged that the dividends were paid for each of the years spanning 2004 and 2009. However, the records of the Accountant General of the Federation and the Budget Office of the Federation showed that the dividends were only remitted to the Consolidated Revenue Account for only 2005 and 2007. While $27 million was remitted in 2005, $100 million was remitted in 2007, totaling $127million. Records of remittances from the office of the Accountant General of the Federation however showed that no fund was remitted in 2004, 2006, 2008 and 2009.
Chairman, House Ad hoc Committee conducting the investigation, Honourable Igo Aguma, said the discrepancy showed that the bulk of the dividends paid were not remitted into the Federation Account.
"They have accepted to have collected the money, but where is the money if it is not in the Federation Account as required by the law? This is the mystery surrounding this investment. The NLNG has not cash called for the establishment of new trains but where is the dividend on the initial investments made by the Federal Government?" Aguma asked.
However in its reaction, the NNPC, through its Group General Manager, Public Affairs, Dr. Livi Ajuonuma, said the lawmakers investigating the issue of NLNG were getting many things wrong.
According to him, the insinuation that the NNPC might have squandered such huge resources accruing to the Federal Gover-nment through the NLNG did not even arise.
"The NLNG does not belong to NNPC; it belongs to the Federal Government. The idea held by the House Committee that NLNG paid $4.4 billion to the NNPC is not correct. Whatever profit or dividend NLNG makes goes to the Federal Government. It is the Federal Government that decides what to do with the money. They may decide to re-invest the money in the same NLNG or otherwise. It is the decision of the Federal Government. So, how can anybody come out to say that we squandered that kind of money? The truth is that NNPC can never spend that kind of money, because it is not its money. The Central Bank, the Accountant General of the Federation and the Federal Ministry of Finance are keeping a close watch on the movement of that money. Everybody's eyes are on NLNG," he said.
NLNG is jointly owned by the NNPC (49%), Shell (25.6%), Total LNG Nigeria Limited (15%) and ENI (10.4%).
It was incorporated as a limited liability company on May 17, 1989, to harness Nigeria's vast natural gas resources and produce Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) for export. The joint venture LNG company's largest shareholder is NNPC.
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