$21bn NLNG funds legally withdrawn- Kyari

…as Reps summon finance minister, CBN governor

Group managing director of the National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mele Kyari on Thursday said the withdrawal of over $21 billion from the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) dividends account was legally done.

Kyari stated this at an investigative hearing by the House of Representatives committee on public accounts chaired by Wole Oke (PDP, Osun).

Kyari, who was represented by NNPC financial officer, Umar Ajiya said the corporation pulled out the sum from the dividends account on the authorisation of the Federal Government through the ministry of finance, the Central Bank of Nigeria, (CBN) and the NNPC.

According to him, proceeds from the dividends account, were the Federal Government’s share of revenues from oil shared among the federal and state tiers of the federation.

Ajiya said: “All withdrawals were based on approved mandates of the relevant authorities. As far as NNPC is concerned, investments in NLNG were done on behalf of the Federal Government. I was the treasurer of NLNG, so I was aware of the Federal Government’s investment in the project.

“The same matter came up at the Federal Executive Council, and was referred to a committee, headed by the governor of Kaduna State, but the fact is that, the Federal Government, through the NNPC, is the true owner of the investment. It is accrued to the Federal Government, not the federation account.

“There is no question of illegal withdrawal. Nobody can withdraw from the account, illegally; the CBN governor, can be invited to attest to that.

“Though the NNPC sits on the board of the NLNG on behalf of the Federal Government, proceeds from the investment are managed and disbursed or dispensed or utilised, based on the instruction of the Federal Government. When I say

Federal Government, I do not mean, NNPC; ordinarily, it’s the federal ministry of finance that directs the utilisation. We (NNPC) are merely the agents of the Federal Government,” he explained.

On the queries from the office of the auditor- general of the federation on alleged unauthorised deduction of over N1.2 trillion in 2014 from proceeds from oil, he explained that “the NNPC couldn’t have remitted all its earnings” at the time to the federation account.

The auditor-general of the federation also queried the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) and the Nigerian Customs Service, but cleared them on the issue of non-remittances for the year under review.

Speaking, the committee’s chairman, Oke invited the minister of finance, Zainab Ahmed, governor of CBN, Godwin Emefiele and the accountant-general of the federation, Ahmed Idris, to clarify claims by Ajiya on the utilisation of the NLNG fund.