Reps Ask NNPC to Remit Debit to FG

House of Representatives’ Committee on Finance yesterday said  the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) would be compelled to remit to the consolidate revenue fund, four years of unremitted revenue accruing to the federal government.

The House Committee on Finance consequently, directed the oil corporation to give express access to the Auditor General of the Federation (AGF) to scrutinize its records on Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) from 2009 to 2012.

NNPC reportedly generated N6.3 trillion in four years and remitted nothing to the CRF.

The breakdown showed that NNPC made N2 trillion in 2009 as its IGR, while it realised N2.1 trillion in 2010. It generated N1.9 trillion in N2011, and as at July 2012, it has realised N259billion.

However, against the provisions of the Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA), 2007 and a 2011 Ministry of Finance directive, revenue-generating agencies were directed to remit 25 per cent of their gross collection to the Treasury.

The Corporation said it is operating at a loss.

Andrew Yakubu, group managing director of the NNPC who appeared before the House’s Committee on Finance yesterday, the reason for the non-remittance was because the organisation has been operating at a loss.

Yakubu in his submission, said the corporation was operating on its own account, adding that it was forced by circumstances to operate in a challenging business environment.

“For instance, we have to buy crude at commercial rates, but have to sell at regulated prices, as such, it was difficult to generate profit, and that is why we have difficulties in remitting to the CRF.

“Also, the cost of generating that IGR is more than the IGR because we spend more to produce the products from where we generate the profits, as we incur additional cost to produce those products

“We lost nothing less than N600million per week to vandalism, and that is also beyond our control,” he said.

Yakubu regretted that the issue of subsidy contributed to the inability of the corporation to meet up with its CRF obligations. “With this, there is no business that can generate profit in such a hostile environment,” he added.

Yakubu explained that as the supplier of last resort, the position of the corporation became more dicey, as it was left as the only supplier of petrol while the fuel subsidy crisis lasted last year.