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The management of Capital Oil lead by its MD Ifeanyi Ubah may have been economical with the truth when it accused the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) of being indebted to the company to the tune of billions of Naira. While appearing before a House of representatives committee, Mr Ibrahim Dansure ED Finance for NNPC Retail said the company had paid N2.0 billion as part of a repayment plan.
NNPC’s side of the story
- Capital Oil has paid N2 billion out of a N11.1 billion Naira debt.
- The Department of State Services (DSS), Economic and Financial Cries Commission (EFCC), NNPC and Capital Oil were currently negotiating a repayment plan.
- The oil firm has admitted it diverted 84.89 million litres of petrol belonging to the corporation. The debt owed NNPC was arrived at using the rate of N130.2 per litre.
Capital Oil’s side of the story
- MD of the company Ifeanyi Ubah, in his counter-claim said NNPC owes it over N16 billion.
- The debt owed NNPC should be arrived at using a value of N120 per litre.
- The company did not commit any crime as its contract with NNPC was in line with global best practice and allowed it to borrow the products.
- NNPC’s actions had caused the company to lose goodwill and resulted in a downsizing of 2000 workers when t was shut down.
Who to believe ?
The case seems to be growing more complex by the day as several questions arise. How did both sides reach their respective values ? Mr Ubah offers no breakdown of how the NNPC accumulated a N16 billion debt with the company. The saga also highlights why the NNPC should be run as a commercial entity,as it would have possessed functioning storage facilities of its own. The DSS and EFCC should not have been involved in what is clearly a commercial dispute that could have been settled in a law court.
