6th November, 2013
The management of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, on Wednesday described reports linking it to the Sure-P budget as a comprehensive falsehood stressing that the Corporation has no connection whatsoever with the disbursement and appropriation of funds to the Sure-P Committee.
A member of the Nigerian Senate Ad hoc Committee on the Subsidy Re-investment Empowerment Programme (SURE-P), Senator Kabiru Marafa had yesterday said over N500 billion SURE-P funds has not been unaccounted for by the NNPC.
Marafa (PDP Zamfara), who made the disclosure at a meeting of the committee on Tuesday in Abuja said records made available to the committee show that so far, the money realised from the subsidy funds is up to N800 billion.
“This committee wrote to the relevant organisations that benefit from this SURE-P programme when it was inaugurated. It was said that the subsidy regime was going to be N32 per litre. This committee wrote the NNPC to ascertain the quantity of fuel being imported from the time this subsidy programme started.
“The NNPC replied and gave us a break down of the quantity per month from January 2012 to December 2013 which if you calculate, it will give about 21 months.
“When you sum up everything, it comes to roughly about 25 billion litres. Now, if you multiply 25 billion by N32, you get about N800 billion, “he said.
Marafa, however, said the officials of the SURE-P told the committee that they had collected only N300 billion so far for the Programme.
“SURE-P told us, when we invited them, that they collected about N300 billion at N15 billion flat rate per month, so if you multiply 21 by N15 billion, you will get about N315 billion.
“So what we are talking about is the amount involved which is N500 billion, where is it?
“That is what we want NNPC to tell us. They are the ones importing the fuel, they are the custodians,” he said.
The Minister of Petroleum, Mrs Diezani Allison-Madueke and the Governor of the CBN, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, and officials of the NNPC were absent up at the meeting to explain the shortfall.
“I have no doubt in my mind that the non appearance of these agencies confirm our fears and reservations of Nigerians on the secrecy of the implementation of the SURE -P programme,” Senator Abdul Ningi, Chairman of the Committee said.
But in a press statement issued on Wednesday by the Acting Group General Manager, Tumini E. Green, the NNPC said Sure-P budget is managed by a Committee made up of eminent Nigerians.
“NNPC is neither a member of the Sure-P Committee nor does it pay any money into the Sure-P account for any reason whatsoever. The budget is the responsibility of other requisite statutory authority. The committee superintends over the disbursement and the execution of the various social welfare projects, “Green informed.
She affirmed in a terse statement that the Corporation does not know how the funds are managed.
The statement also added that the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke who has the highest regards for the distinguished Senate Ad-Hoc Committee was unavoidably absent because she was away on some very important national assignment