By Favour Ifeoluwa and Akinola Ajibade
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd.) says its nether indebted to the tune of N6.8billion nor remitted revenues to the Federation Account since January as alleged by the citizens.
Speaking on the issue, the nation's oil company head of media , Soneye said that the clarification become necessary in view of the spurious allegations made against the corporation.
He spoke through a release issued in Abuja and made available to the media at the weekend.
He said: " NNPC Limited. does not owe the sum of $6.8bn to any international trader(s). In the oil trading business, transactions are carried out on credit, and so it is normal to owe at one point or the other. But NNPC Ltd., through its subsidiary, NNPC Trading, has many open trade credit lines from several traders. The company is paying its obligations of related invoices on a first-in-first-out (FIFO) basis.
Adding that: It t is not correct to say that NNPC Ltd. has not remitted any money to the Federation Account since January. Its subsidiaries remit their taxes to the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) regularly. This is in addition to payments of CIT to road contractors under the Road Investment Tax Credit Scheme. In all, NNPC Ltd. is the largest contributor to the tax revenue shared every month at the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC).
He further said that NNPC has no role to play whatsoever on the issue of quality/quantity fiscalization of imported petroleum products, The reason, Soeye said, is because NNPC is not a regulator. The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) is the relevant regulatory agency in charge of such issues, is an independent body and does not report to the NNPC Ltd.
He stressed that NNPC. is not averse to inquiries by the media into issues on and around its operations before dissemination to the public either through the print or electronic channels of communication as the company will, always, gladly take the opportunities to state the facts of the subject matter(s). This is in line with the company’s commitment to the Transparency, Accountability, and Performance Excellence (TAPE) philosophy as emplaced by the Mele Kyari-led management since stepping into the saddle in 2019.
Comments
Post a Comment