Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI)

•  To give Sagay committee particulars of oil companies owing $7bn

Chineme Okafor in Abuja
The Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) on Sunday said that it will give the new Group Managing Director (GMD) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, all institutional supports needed to recover a certain $11.6 billion revenue from the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) which NNPC allegedly failed to remit to the Federation Account.

Similarly, it indicated that it will present to the newly constituted presidential advisory committee against corruption particulars of oil and gas companies that are operating in Nigeria but still owing an outstanding $7 billion crude oil revenue to the country over the years as underpayments and under-assessments.

NEITI, which disclosed its delight with the ongoing restructuring at NNPC, said in a statement from its secretariat in Abuja that the constitution of the Prof. Itsay Sagay-led committee last week by President Muhammadu Buhari presents to it another opportunity to pursue the recovery of the fund, using such high level governmental framework.

The statement was signed by NEITI’s Director of Communication, Orji Ogbonnanya Orji, and it described the Sagay committee as a good platform for all the 21 anti-corruption agencies in the country which are coordinated by the Technical Unit on Governance and Anti-Corruption (TUGAR) under the chairmanship of NEITI to share information and offer informed advice based on experiences garnered over the years in the fight against corrupt practices in Nigeria.

It said in this regards that: “One important issue that NEITI will be bringing to the table if given opportunity is how the committee can assist the government to recover over $7 billion owed by oil companies.

“These disclosures are contained in NEITI audit reports as cases of under payments, under assessments arising from subjective interpretation of MoUs and tax laws. We have no doubt that our contributions will add value to the work of the committee.”

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