The Nigerian Governors’ Forum, NGF, has accused the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, of fraudulently doubling daily consumption of petrol from about 30 million liters to 60 million. The forum also demanded an investigation into the oil subsidy payments made from 2015 till date.
Chairman, Governors Forum, Abdulaziz Yari, Governor Zamfara State, made the allegation yesterday at a meeting with Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
Remittance to the Federation Account
Yari noted that the Governors were not satisfied with the way remittances are being made because there are so many questions raised, especially on the 425,000 barrel domestic and 180,000 barrel component of Nigeria from the Joint Venture Partners.
According to the Governor, section 196 of the Act establishing the Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR, mandates all royalties be paid to DPR and then transmitted to the Federation account. This he noted is not observed by the NNPC.
In his words:
“So, our main concern is that the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), said that the NNPC is not remitting any payment of royalty, what they do is that they transmit directly from the NNPC to the federation account which is not allowed by the law.”
On the issue of subsidy
The Governor also lamented that despite efforts by the Federal Government to eradicate the subsidy regime, it has resurfaced again, adding that DPR had been ordered to shut down any petrol station that is 10km from the nation’s borders to curb smuggling activities.
On the issue of cost recovery otherwise called the subsidy, the Governor said the issue of subsidy resurfaced again after the efforts of the President before now oil was $40 per barrel and now it is about $78 a barrel.
“When there was no cost recovery, the NNPC clearly gave us the number of 33 and 35 million liters per day as the consumption of Nigeria. But now that with the new regime of cost recovery, NNPC is claiming daily consumption of 60 and 65 million liters per day which we rejected and said no.”
The Governors’ Forum consists of the 36 states governors. The Forum has become increasingly effective as they discuss ways of overcoming their commonly shared developmental challenges.