Tashikalmah Hallah and Nasidi A. Yahaya
6 July 2009
Abuja — The House of Representatives said weekend that it is investigating the $4.44billion in dividends which accrued to the Federal Government in respect of its investments in the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) Project.
The House ad-hoc committee investigating the activities of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and its subsidiaries led by Rep Igo Aguma (PDP, Rivers State) said it is still at a loss as to the whereabouts of the dividends.
The controversy trailing the funds arose from the conflicting records presented to the MPs 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 NNPC's official records, $4.443billion was paid to the Federal Government through the NNPC as dividends from NLNG between June 2004 and April 2009. The money was 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 2004 and 2009.
However the records of the Accountant General and the Budget Office showed that dividends were only remitted to the Consolidated Revenue Account for 2005 and 2007, amounting to about $127million.
Rep Aguma said the inconsistency showed that the bulk of the dividends paid were not remitted into the Federation Account. He said, "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".
Group General Manager, Public Affairs of NNPC, Dr. Levi Ajuonuma however said the MPs got many things wrong, saying the insinuation that the corporation may have wasted such huge resources does not arise.
He said, "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?"
He added, "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. NNPC cannot dip its hands in that money".
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