FAAC: No Grudge With NNPC- States
Following another deadlock in the meeting of the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) last week, the 36 States’ Commissioners of Finance as represented by the Forum of Finance Commissioners has said that they have no grudge with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
Speaking to newsmen over the weekend, Chairman of the forum, Alhaji Mahmoud Yunusa said “We have no personal grudge against the NNPC, adding that all they crave for was for the strengthening of remittance procedures.
“The moment the system is strengthened, definitely there will be no more problem. There will be no more saying bring more money, the money is shortened or this and that.
“We know that people are facing difficulties, people are in pains, salaries have not been paid by federal government, salaries are owed in a lot of states, but this is the sacrifice that all of us must make in order to resolve this under-remittance of revenue by NNPC”
“We are all partners in progress – the state’s, local government and the NNPC itself. At the end of the day, NNPC will also appreciate what we are doing, because if new processes are put in place and being operated the way they are supposed to be, nobody will complain and even the NNPC will be off the pressure”, he said.
“We thought that based on our projections we would have concluded the reconciliations and subsequently hold the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee meeting, but it was not the case.
“From the feelers we are getting some of the top officials have travelled abroad and we need to wait for them so that we can move forward”, he said.
He noted that NNPC is not the only revenue generation agency, but because it generates the highest revenue for the country, it becomes imperative to specifically make open the processes and procedures because it is a national company. He noted that the decision of the state governments and other members of FAAC to oppose NNPC’s paltry remittances “is about the system and the process and we are working on it.”
Yunusa, said that the N127billion declared by NNPC as earnings for the month of May was far from the true picture of revenue received. He disclosed that the corporation claimed that it spent N3.5billion on product leakages and pipeline vandalism, which the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) was not aware of.
He further stated that “it is no longer a joking matter; it has gone to the highest level. Mr President will sit down, he is highly interested in this, he is taking his time to ensure that the right thing is done.”
Yunusa noted that state governments and other FAAC members opposed to NNPC “know that people are facing difficulties, but this is a sacrifice that all of us must do to get out of this problem of NNPC under remittance. If the process is operated the way it is supposed to, nobody will complain.”
While briefing journalists on the development, the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, explained that the figures NNPC had proposed for FAAC were “unacceptable.”
She also stated that some of the costs the corporation had put forward to defend its under-remittance could not be justified.
