The group managing director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mr. Mele Kyari, has defended the withdrawal of over $21 billion from the dividends account of the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) saying it was a legal transaction.
He stated this when he appeared before an investigative hearing of the public accounts committee of the House of Representatives in Abuja yesterday.
Kyari who was represented by the chief financial officer of the corporation, Mr. Umar Ajiya, said the fund was the federal government’s share of revenues from oil shared among the federal, state and local governments.
He added that the withdrawal was authorised by the federal government, as represented by the federal ministry of finance, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the NNPC.
“When I say the federal government, I do not mean NNPC. Ordinarily, it is the federal ministry of finance that directs the utilisation. We (NNPC) are merely the agents of the federal government.
“Though the NNPC sits on the board (of NLNG) on behalf of the federal government, proceeds from the investment are managed and disbursed or dispensed or utilised, based on the instruction of the federal government.
“All withdrawals (from NLNG dividends fund) were based on approved mandates of the relevant authorities.
“As far as NNPC is concerned, investments in NLNG were done on behalf of the federal government. I was the treasurer of NLNG, so I was aware of the federal government’s investment in the project,” he said.
He said the matter had come up at the federal executive council and was referred to a committee headed by the governor of Kaduna State, Dr Nasir El-Rufai.
He contended that the federal government, through the NNPC, is the true owner of the investment and that the dividends accrued to the federal government, not the federation account.
“Though the NNPC sits on the board (of NLNG) on behalf of the Federal Government, proceeds from the investment are managed and disbursed or dispensed or utilised, based on the instruction of the federal government.
“When I say federal government, I do not mean NNPC. Ordinarily it is the federal ministry of finance that directs the utilisation. We (NNPC) are merely, the agents of the federal government.
“There is no question of illegal withdrawal. Nobody can withdraw from the account illegally. The CBN governor can be invited to attest to that,” he said.
On queries from the office of the auditor-general of the federation on the alleged unauthorised deduction of over N1.2 trillion in 2014 from proceeds from oil, he said that “the NNPC couldn’t have remitted all its earnings” at the time to the federation account.
On the queries from the office of the auditor general of the federation on alleged unauthorised deduction of over N1.2 trillion in 2014 from proceeds from oil, Kyari said the corporation could not have remitted all its earnings at that time to the federation account.
The House committee then resolved to summon the minister of finance, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed; governor of CBN, Mr. Godwin Emefiele and the accountant general of the federation, Mr. Ahmed Idris, to clarify Kyari’s claims on the utilisation of the NLNG fund.
