The Senate, Wednesday, alleged fresh withdrawals from the dividends accounts of the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) totalling $1.151.609billion ‘illegally’ by the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation.
The sum is different from the $1.05billion the NNPC Group Managing Director, Mr. Mikanti Baru, had earlier admitted, was used to augment under-recoveries in fuel importation.
The lawmakers also expressed anger at the alleged withdrawal of “a whopping sum of $5billion” from the same account in 2015 under the current administration.
The discovery of ‘illegal’ withdrawals by the NNPC, through the Central Bank of Nigeria, was sequel to an ongoing investigation by the committee, of $1.05billion used to underwrite the losses incurred by the corporation on landing cost of imported fuel (N185) and pump price of N145.
The Committee, headed by Senator Bassey Albert Akpan (PDP Akwa Ibom North East), in line with the mandate given it by the Senate two weeks ago to probe the $1.05billion by the NNPC, had ordered both the NNPC and CBN to submit documents on withdrawals made from the NLNG dividends account within the last two years.
Consequently, while scrutinising the NLNG account documents presented to it yesterday, particularly by the Chief Operating Officer (COO) Finance of the CBN, Babatunde Adeniran, the committee observed series of cash debiting from the account from November 2016 to June this year totalling $2.201billion.
A breakdown of the withdrawals, not supported by required approving documents as observed by the committee, are $86.546, 526million withdrawn from the account on the 22nd of November 2016, being alleged payment on Paris Club loans for the state governors, $1.05 billion withdrawn on the 17th of April 2018 as National Fuel Support Fund.
Others are $650million withdrawn from the account on the 7th of June this year for offsetting of Joint Venture Cash Call by NNPC, which ordinarily supposed to be a budget item payment and $415, 063million also withdrawn from the account also in June without clear explanation on purpose for which it was meant for.
Angered by the withdrawals, the committee ordered officials of both the CBN and NNPC who represented their bosses to forward to them latest by Tuesday next week, supporting cum approving documents for the withdrawals.
Specifically, the committee Chairman, Bassey Akpan said: “From the available documents before us, aside the $1.05 billion we are mandated by the Senate to investigate several withdrawals have also been made from the NLNG dividends account without required supporting documents to back them.
“This is unacceptable to us, the very reason along with the fact that the GMD of NNPC and CBN Governor are not here in persons, we are not going to continue with the session today.
“Therefore, on a very serious note, both the NNPC and CBN must furnish this committee with other relevant documents on the withdrawals latest by Tuesday next week, and the NNPC GMD, the Corporations Group Executive Director ( Finance), Isiaka Abdulrasak and the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele , must appear before us on Thursday next week.”
The committee chairman further disclosed in his office that even the approving memo tendered by the NNPC for the withdrawal of the $1.05billion being investigated, has no clear cut authorisation from required authorities.”
According to him, the memo NNPC GMD 49, signed by Baru, and sent through the Chief of Staff to the President, Malam Abba Kyari, has no clear cut language of request for approval for withdrawal of the $1.05billion, but just notification.
“Even if it has, approval for withdrawal from such fund supposed to be given by the National Economic Council (NEC) being an account or dividends owned by the three tiers of government.
“We are surely going to carry out thorough investigation on the illegal withdrawals to put an end to the cycle, because a whopping sum of $5billion was withdrawn from the same account in 2015 under this same government without any convincing explanations made so far on what the money was used for “, he further stressed.
