‘No public funds withheld’ — NNPC refutes NEITI’s report on non-remittance of $2bn

Mele Kyari, group chief executive officer (GCEO) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, has clarified the non-remittance of $2 billion into the federation account as reported by the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI).

NEITI, in its ‘2021 Oil and Gas Industry Report’, released in September 2023, had said NNPC did not remit $2 billion in taxes to the federal government in 2022.

But, reacting, Kyari, expressed disappointment with NEITI for going public with its report that NNPC failed to remit some monies into the federation account “instead of seeking clarification on any perceived gap in its assessment”.

According to a statement on Saturday by Olufemi Soneye, chief corporate communications officer, NNPC, Kyari made this known during a visit by a delegation from the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), in Abuja on Thursday.

He said NNPC was not holding any public funds back and what NEITI reported as non-remittance was what was due to the company as payment for taking the burden of fuel subsidy on behalf of the federal government.

Also, Kyari said NNPC would have published its audited financial statement (AFS) for 2022 since June 2023 but could not do so because it had no substantive board of directors at that time.

Speaking further, the GCEO said NNPC was a more reliable organisation as a result of its collaboration with EITI/NEITI.

Meanwhile, Bady Baldé, EITI’s deputy executive director, during the visit, said EITI had scored the NNPC very high in its latest global assessment.

He added that adhering to global EITI standards will increase the company’s credibility.