From Uche Usim, Abuja
Ekiti State Governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi, has expressed concerns over the N287 billion 2020 Profit After Tax (PAT) declared by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) when it has not met its litany of obligations.
Fayemi spoke at the Governors’ Session at the ongoing Nigerian International Energy Summit (NIES) themed: “Revitalising the industry: Future fuels and energy transition” in Abuja.
He said a situation where the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) received zero remittance from the NNPC in February and other months is not one that the national oil company should be said to have made profit.
“NNPC is declaring profit when it has not met its obligations. How’s that possible? Simple economics tells you that you can only declare profit after you have met all obligations. We’ve just had FAAC meeting a couple of days ago, and the NNPC contributed zero to the federation account this month, and this is not the first month that the NNPC is contributing zero. Over the last couple of months, we’ve been having these challenges of course, we know why,” he said.
The governor lamented that rising oil prices at the international market was not cheering news to the country as it translates to lesser income due to a plethora of factors.
“Even though oil prices in the international market is going up, maybe, $110/barrel today or more, the more it goes up, it would appear, that the more we suffer locally now. So there’s an ambiguous relationship of sorts between what is happening in the international market and what we’re experiencing here in Nigeria and as critical stakeholders in the Nigerian federation, states are naturally concerned about this.
“They are concerned about how to grow this industry and ensure that this industry is sustained over the long term in a manner that it can benefit those who are stakeholders in the industry. “industry around transparency around accountability around governance of the sector.”