Friday 1 February 2013

Nigeria oil firm owes billions to government -audit

ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigeria's state oil firm NNPC failed to pay the government billions of dollars in earnings from 2009-2011, an audit showed on Thursday, adding to a string of reports highlighting mismanagement of the energy sector.

The audit by the Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) - a government agency - found that NNPC owed 1.3 trillion Nigerian naira from crude oil sales in the three-year period.

The firm also owed $4.84 billion in dividends and loan repayments from the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) export business between 2009-2011 and a further $3.99 billion in NLNG funds from previous years going back to 1999, the audit said.

An NNPC spokeswoman said the firm could not comment on the findings because it had not seen the report yet.

Africa's biggest energy industry has been criticised for being corrupt for years. But audits and reports have never resulted in high-level officials being charged, and have rarely prompted a change in the way revenues are managed.

NEITI said it would further investigate NNPC's rapidly escalating fuel import subsidy bill, which the audit showed rose from 198 billion naira in 2009 to 786 billion naira in 2011.

Nigeria tried to end fuel subsidies in January last year but a week of public protests forced the government to partially re-instate the payments, which are the biggest single drag on the federal budget.

A parliamentary investigation following the strikes showed how "endemic corruption" in the administration of the subsidy regime had resulted in a rapid increase in payments between 2009-2011, with much of the money paid out on fuel that was never delivered.

Some small fuel marketers have been arraigned for their part in the $6.8 billion subsidy scam but no government official has been charged. NNPC is the biggest importer of fuel.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/nigerias-state-oil-firm-owes-billions-government-audit-145607504--finance.html

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