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The Federation
Accounts Allocation Committee yesterday expressed worry that the
controversy over the N450billion debt of the Nigerian National Petroleum
Corporation is still lingering, more than a year since the initial
ultimatum was issued. At its meeting in December 2009, the committee had
asked the past group managing director of the corporation, Mohammed
Barkindo, to furnish it with the repayment schedule by January 12, 2010.

Since then, two new
chief executives, who have since succeeded Mr. Barkindo (Shehu Ladan and
the incumbent, Austen Oniwon), have received similar ultimatums without
any positive result.

Last December, the
committee resolved to, again, write the NNPC’s management to remind it
of its demand for a schedule for the repayment of the debt.

Last ultimatum

But at the end of
its meeting yesterday in Abuja, the chairman, Comissioners of Finance
Forum and Taraba State Commissioner for Finance, Rebo Usman, told
reporters that members of FAAC are becoming increasingly concerned that
the issue has remained unresolved.

“We have resolved to
extend our last ultimatum by another one month for NNPC to come up with
a repayment schedule. After that, the whole nation will hear from us,
because it is an issue we cannot just sweep under the carpet.

“Very soon, the
Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) will be passed into law. When that
happens, it will become more difficult for FAAC to track that money. We
are very serious about it, and we believe this extension is going to be
the last,” he declared.

Though Mr. Usman did
not say what options are open to FAAC should NNPC fail to meet the
deadline, he said the latest ultimatum is final, as it was issued by
states of the federation as well as other FAAC member, including the
federal government, who have warned that they would rise against the
NNPC if nothing happens.

Unresolved differences

The reconciled
industry audit of NNPC operations covering 2006 and 2008 published
recently by the Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative
(NEITI) showed that the sum of $932.2million was captured as the total
unresolved differences for petroleum profit tax (PPT), royalties and
signature bonuses, apart from a total oil and gas income of $344.686
million for the period. According to the report, the NNPC was unable to
explain the differences of about 3,092,304 barrels between the volume of
total oil allocated by the corporation and the volume actually lifted
by companies for the period. However, Minister of State for Finance
Yawaba Lawan-Wabi assured that the forensic audit ordered by the
presidency on NNPC accounts was nearing completion, as the report of the
audit is currently being analyzed by the appropriate authorities,
pending a formal publication. The minister did disclose when to expect
the audit report.

January revenue allocation

On the revenue
allocation for the month of January, Mrs. Lawan-Wabi, said though
N610.801billion was gross revenue for the month, total distributable
revenue stood at about N414.305billion, including value added tax (VAT)
of N48.763billion and statutory allocation of N354.237billion, which was
higher by N5.071billion, or 1.45 percent compared to the allocation for
last December.

The gross revenue,
she said, is higher than N581.561billion from the previous month by
N29.240billion as a result of higher prices of crude oil in the
international market above the $60 per barrel benchmark in the 2010
budget.

The minister said
the sum of N11.305billion was proposed as augmentation to the allocation
as a result of the shortfall in the N354.237billion revenue from the
official ceiling of N369billion pegged last year as monthly
distributable allocation for the three tiers of government.