The presidential candidate of the PDP in the last general election, Atiku Abubakar, has described the directive from the federal government to remit revenue from the sale of crude oil to the Central Bank of Nigeria as illegal.
Atiku, who made this statement on Thursday, said the plan violates the status legal status of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) as well as threatens the autonomy of the company.
According to him, State-owned enterprises are not subject to such arbitrary orders and have full control over their finances within the confines of their respective establishment laws.
He said,
- “Without prejudice to the possibility of any good that was intended in the decision of the Federal Government to make the CBN take over the responsibility for crude oil sales proceeds from the NNPCL, it must be clearly stated that the action is not legal in its application.
- “By this order, Mr. President has wrested control of the finances of the NNPCL and donated the same to the Federal Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank of Nigeria.
- “This is an unprecedented act, without any legal or ethical basis,” he said.
Speaking further, Atiku noted that State-owned enterprises are not subject to such arbitrary orders and have full control over their finances within the confines of their respective establishment laws.
- “The PIA makes extensive provisions for the formation, structure, governance, and operation of the NNPCL as an independent limited liability company in Sections 53 to 65 of the Act.
- “The government must, therefore, respect the provisions of the law and allow the NNPCL to run as an independent company based on sound commercial objectives and in line with international best practices and standard principles of corporate governance,” he added.
Backstory
Earlier, it was widely reported that President Bola Tinubu had directed NNPCL to remit all the proceeds of crude oil sales to the Central Bank of Nigeria.
According to the report, NNPCL will submit receipts for crude oil sales to CBN for vetting and documentation
The report also noted that a decision was made to encourage transparency and accountability in the oil and gas sector.
Accordingly, the chief whip of the Senate, Senator Ali Ndume, lauded the decision, adding that it is constitutional.
- “This decision that Mr. President took is the right decision, it is constitutional and it should be supported by everybody.
- “That way, it should also apply to other agencies of government that are driving revenue. They cannot keep it. NIMASA should pay directly like NNPCL into the CRF.
- “If they want to withdraw money, they should withdraw through the CBN. They were doing this before. Don’t go and keep people’s money in commercial banks and do transactions with it. That is it,” he said.
