The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) on Wednesday refuted insinuations that it had in its custody the $3.5billion subsidy fund that has generated some controversies in recent months.
The clarification came on the heels of the Senate’s plans to investigate the subsidy fund, which the lawmakers alleged that the corporation used the fund to subsidize fuel importation without its approval.
The Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division of the NNPC, Mr. Ndu Ughamadu, in a statement on pointed out that sequel to the fuel shortage crisis in the downstream sub-sector towards the end , the National Assembly asked the corporation to do everything possible to address the challenge.
Ughamadu stated that following the directive, the state-owned oil entity moved to raise a revolving fund of $1.05billion for petroleum products importation since the corporation was, and still is, the sole importer and supplier of white products in the country.
According to him, since then the fund has been domiciled in the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and that there is no time the fund has been in the custody of the NNPC.
He clarified further that the National Fuel Support Fund, had been jointly managed by the NNPC, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Federal Ministry of Finance, the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OGF), the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) and the Petroleum Equalization Fund (PEF).
Ughamadu maintained that NNPC did not independently spend any amount in the fund specifically provided to ensure stability in downstream sub-sector of the oil and gas industry.
He admitted also that the corporation was fully aware that it is only the National Assembly that has the statutory responsibility to appropriate on petroleum subsidy matters.
